Impulse
by Juvee
Summary: "In this world, there are winners and losers. If you can't stand up on your own two feet then don't get up at all." Rukia has always been told these ruthless words, programmed to think that life is a competition. But when she clashes with her jerk of a professor, she is put to the test if she can actually live by them. University AU!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, this is my first bleach fanfic (EVER), that I got inspired to write because of a dream I had about this idea. So, I developed that dream and turned into a story that I thought some people could enjoy. So please do and give me some feedback on what you think. So without further ado,** **Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach...**

* * *

The morning sun's rays hit a pair of newly awoken violet eyes. Yawning, Rukia sits up slowly from her lavish, round bed. Not much time has passed; a maid gently opens the door, walking inside her bedroom. She pushes the lavender silk curtains aside to reveal more light.

"Ms. Kuchiki sama," the maid addresses, "It's time to get up for school." Rukia looks for the time on the wall clock and nods at the maid.

"Your breakfast and items are ready for you once you come down," the maid says before closing the door to give her privacy. Rukia looks around the room, eyes stopping to notice the date on the calendar.

"April 15th, back to life again," she says quietly to herself. She gets up, slips on her Chappy bunny slippers and walks to her bathroom.

* * *

"Ms. Kuchiki sama, your bag," a maid hands her black book bag. Rukia takes the bag from her hand, making sure to check the Chappy key chain is attached to the zipper.

"Thank you, Momo." She smiles at the big brown eyed maid. All of the maids and butlers are all in standing position in a row, by the mansion's entrance, waiting for Rukia's departure.

"Oooh! Ms. Rukia~! I looove what you've done to your outfit," a maid with the name of Rangiku says while examining her outfit, "A light blue denim, shirt dress with cute white skinny jeans! Not bad girl! You'll make those college boys go gaga for ya! But if it were me, I'd change the belt to red instead of light brown." She takes Rukia's hands with her own. Rukia blushes, laughing a bit from her unexpected comment. A hand slaps Rangiku in the head,

"Rangiku! Didn't I tell you stop making Ms. Kuchiki feel awkward?" Nanao pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Rangiku pouts.

"I'm sorry Ms. Kuchiki for this idiot," she bows and pushes Rangiku to the same.

"That's alright," Rukia says, trying to ease the situation. A butler comes through the big, white doors of the mansion,

"Ms. Kuchiki sama, the limo is ready for your departure." Rukia steps outside and cascades down the mansion's staircase, a few sun rays catch her face with every step she takes. A white, shiny limo is parked on the driveway. The driver tips his hat to her and opens the door. Rukia mutters a hello and slides into her seat. Rukia opens the window.

"I'll see you all later!" Rukia waves goodbye to all of the mansion's staff who are waiting by the staircase.

"Good luck!" They all bid her farewell as the limo drives slowly away from the mansion. The tinted window closes and Rukia leans back against the leather seat with a sigh.

"Ya seem tired Ms. Kuchiki? Not ready to start yo' second year at the university?" The driver teases, noticing her tiredness. Rukia gazes at the window and simply answers,

"I didn't get enough sleep last night." The first day of school has always been tenacious for Rukia. Everything matters, first impressions, assignments, simple details such as clothes and lunch. If you're not the best then you're the worst. Yes, they're harsh words but why live a life where you're under someone's control when they could be under yours. Rukia has been taught this way and has been living in the similar manner. Raised alone in a beautiful three-story mansion, luxury has always been at her side. She only has one significant other in her life; the one she owes her life, her brother.

"That's too bad, ya should probably get some tonight, considering yo' brother should be arriving tomorrow." This causes Rukia to sit upright against the seat. This was definitely news to her; she knew he would be coming around this week but not exactly when. From the rear view mirror, the driver sees Rukia's tension building up and smirks.

"Same place yeah?" The driver asks for Rukia's approval. Rukia snaps out of her thoughts,

"Oh, yes." The driver nods slowly and drops her a few blocks away from the university.

"Thanks, Ichimaru san," Rukia says to her silver-haired, weird smiling driver.

"'S no problem." Rukia starts to head her way, but Gin Ichimaru's voice stops her.

"Ms. Kuchiki try not to get in trouble, wouldn't want yo' brother to worry," Ichimaru gives one of his creepy trademark smiles. Rukia freezes up for a bit; Ichimaru's chilling voice had always made her feel like she was strangled by snakes. She gulps and nods her head; the limo drives away leaving her finally alone, at peace. Rukia lets out a breath of air and begins walking towards her school.

Rukia finally arrives at Karakura University's campus. Soft music blares from the marching band's practice, as club members from every club encourage new freshmen to join their amazing club. Rukia smiles at some freshmen who are trying to get away from some clingy senior club members. She used to be in their shoes last year, almost ended up being late to her first class because of some clubs. One mistake could have cost her life in a sense. This time she was going to make sure everything goes according to her plan. As she walks towards the building, she pulls her schedule out of her bag.

(Applied) Physics II Ukitake Jushiro 10:00 - 11:30 (TTH)

Calculus II Aizen Sosuke 10:00 - 11:00 (MWF)

English II Kyoraku Shunsui 2:00 - 3:00 (MWF)

Biology I Ukitake Jushiro 4:00 - 5:30 (TTH)

All of the subjects looked easy to handle except physics the one she decided to major in. Physics was the only real subject that worried her yet fascinated her at the same time. How can something so simple of why an apple falls to the ground, can turn into something so complicated. She puts her schedule back into her bag and happily walks to her next class, knowing who her teacher will be. She finds her physics class and immediately steps into the classroom. The room has no windows but it has bright tube lighting. There are nine wooden desks per row with gray seats attached to each portion of desk space. The room seems small on the outside but on the inside it has a lot more space. Rukia takes a seat in the corner of the back room. She checks the time on her watch, it's 9:50, right on time.

"I'm pretty nervous about this class, to be honest," a guy with crazy red hair and tattoos slides into the seat next to Rukia. Rukia doesn't even bother to look at him and answers,

"Nervous? It's just physics, didn't you take it before?" The red haired guy looks at her as if she gone bonkers.

"I have, didn't you?" Now Rukia finally looks at him. She gets the impression of a burnout. One of those kids who cut class to smoke weed or listens to one of those heavy metal rock bands. But, instead here he is attending one of the most prestigious universities in the country in a physics class.

"I have or I wouldn't be in this class, now would I?" Rukia squints at him.

"Well, same goes to me. It seems we're going to round and round in circles so I'll just end it," he brings out a hand for her to shake, "I'm Renji," he smiles.

"Rukia," she doesn't accept his hand. Renji's smile deflates like a balloon.

"Don't take it personally, I just don't do handshakes," Rukia says truthfully.

"Nah, it's okay I understand," he puts his hand down under his desk and doesn't say anything more. The door opens and a man with white hair enters the classroom. Rukia sits up straight in her seat, noticing her old teacher's presence, something looks off. He looks sick, he has dark circles under his eyes and his pale skin is paler than usual. He walks slowly until he reaches the main desk in the center.

"Good morning class," he says in a quiet voice. The class replies back. "I have an important announcement," Rukia leans forward in her seat so she can hear his quiet voice speak. "I will not be teaching this class or any of my other classes," the whole class erupts in gasps and whispers. "I apologize, but I have a slight emergency on my part," he coughs harshly,"I have cancer," he simply states it as if it were a little excuse. The class breaks into dead silence. So quiet, someone could hear a pin drop. Rukia shakes her head in disbelief, how can her favorite professor from last year have such a dreadful disease? He smiles sadly,"I didn't find out until a month before the school year began, so they couldn't change the schedules on the paper, so I apologize once again if you looked forward in working with me." He specifically looks at Rukia's sadden face, "Nothing can prepare you for life's many wonders, so just enjoy what little time you may have left. Just some advice I leave you with. Now, I'm still going to try to fight this thing, but for the moment I will leave you in the capable teaching hands of an old friend of mine." A knock comes at the door. "You can come on in, the class is yours," he yells out to the door. Out walks in a tall, brightly, orange haired man. Mr. Ukitake takes a seat at a small desk nearby. Whispers about the young teacher break loose across the classroom.

"Isn't he too young?"

"I don't care, he's hot~"

"Is he seriously our new teacher? What a godsend!" Meanwhile, the first thought that comes to Rukia's mind is, _why orange?_

"Yo, I'm Mr. Kurosaki Ichigo, nice to meet you all," Ichigo's sugar coated deep voice makes the girls melt even more. He gives a smile that shows off his pearly whites. Rukia rolls her eyes, knowing she has to deal with this for the rest of the semester and so on.

"Don't worry, for those of you who don't think I'm qualified just because I am young, don't let my age fool you. I have a masters in this field of physics," he explains with teasing voice.

"How old are you?" A boy with turquoise eyes raises his hand.

"24, how old are you?" Ichigo whips his question right back at him without skipping a beat. A slight blush rises up the boy's cheeks.

"15," the boy grumbles. The class laughs at their conversation.

"Looks like they're letting everyone come to this university nowadays," Rukia mumbles to herself. For the rest of the hour, Professor Kurosaki ( or Mr. Kurosaki as he insists), tells more about himself, how he was 17 years old when he went to this very university. His dad was a doctor who ran his own clinic, which greatly helped him in his studies. He has two younger sisters that are in their senior year of high school. Everyone seemed very fascinated meanwhile Rukia was wondering why they haven't started any physics!

"You don't seem too fond of the new teacher?" Renji asks, noticing her scowled face.

"You don't say," Rukia rolls her eyes and muses, "All he does is talk about his life, where's the new assignment or new lesson, that his 'physics major' is supposed to teach," Rukia's eyes observe her new teacher. He's wearing a fitted, black round neck long-sleeve shirt with the number 15 written messily in red on the bottom side, white skinny jeans and some old red sneakers. He looks more college student than college professor.

"I'll say if it were me, I'd- whoa hey!" Renji sees Rukia's hand go up,

"What the hell are you doing?" He catches her eyes flash with frustration and irritation. Ichigo sees Rukia's hand and picks on her for a question.

"Why did you become a professor if all you came here to do is to talk about yourself?" Rukia's statement makes the room go silent. Ichigo blinks at her, not believing what he had heard.

"I'm sorry, I'm not sure on what you mean," Ichigo, crosses his arms against his chest and focuses on his new student.

"You claim you have a major or a masters in physics, so why don't you put it to good use and actually teach us something, instead of just talking about your boring life. I didn't waste my time to hear about yourself, I came here to learn." Rukia dangerously challenges Mr. Kurosaki. Rukia receives death glares from all over the room but she doesn't mind it one bit, her eyes are trained on Ichigo. Ichigo loosens up his shoulders and leans on the side of the oak desk. He smirks and responds,

"Well isn't physics related to life, physics is the study of what matter is made up of and the forces that interact on objects, applicable to everyday 'boring' life? A principal of physics is the interactions of time and force. For example, when someone drives a car, when the car accelerates, decelerates or turns. The driver must anticipate the forces acting upon the car to keep him or her on the road. Life and physics are two complete puzzle pieces, it has been there ever since mine and your life began. In a sense you could say it brought you in this world since without physics, medical tools such as ultrasound and X-ray, which helps when a woman gives birth, would be rendered useless. If you still think my life has nothing to do with physics and what I teach. Then, the door is always open, to find yourself a new teacher Ms.?" Ichigo implies for her name.

"Rukia," she says quietly, her eyes no longer on him, hiding from eye contact.

"Ms. Rukia," he repeats her name slowly, making sure every vowel is said from his voice. The class is even more silent and Rukia is silently shocked, frustrated to her bone. Ukitake smiles from his seat as if he can see the future already.

"Alright class, I think that's enough questions for today, turn to chapter one and start reading from there as prior knowledge of what you should have learned last semester." He takes one long glance at Rukia and then turns around to write something on the chalkboard. Tired groans and books hitting the hard table escape from the room. Rukia freezes in her seat, her fists clenching under her desk, vowing to never let this one go.

* * *

After class, Rukia immediately meets up with Ukitake while still avoiding eye contact with her new teacher. Mr. Ukitake slowly gets up from his seat.

"Hello Rukia," Ukitake kindly greets.

"Hello Mr. Ukitake," Rukia bows respectfully.

"Would you like to stop by for some coffee in the cafe," Ukitake suggests. Rukia widens her eyes as if he read her mind. She nods at him. They walk out of the classroom and shift into the cafe directly across the cafeteria. Rukia inhales the aroma from her soothing cappuccino, as she can already feel it heal her headache.

"So how are you feeling?" Rukia asks him. He smiles at Rukia's worried face.

"Well, I'm just holding on to the best of my ability,"

"Is there a chance you can still teach again?" Rukia asks even though she already knows what the answer is.

"Rukia, I can see you and Ichigo got up on the wrong track but give him a chance, I trust that he will do a good job," Ukitake says in between sips of his ginger tea.

"Yes but he's only 24!" Rukia protests. Ukitake puts his tea down.

"Ichigo, is a good friend and a student of mine. I taught him everything I knew, so don't underestimate him," Ukitake reasons with Rukia. Rukia sighs,

"Okay, fine, I'll give him a chance but it still won't be the same without you."

"I know," he laughs jovially and gets up from the table, "Well, I must get going now. Don't worry Rukia; I'll make sure to visit a few times to see how you are doing or to let you know how I'm doing. Make sure to take care of yourself and don't stress too much about Ichigo, goodbye," he gives a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder and leaves some money for the bill. Rukia says goodbye and watches his figure leave. She checks the time on her watch; it's about 1:00. She still has three hours until her final class. She pulls her physics book out of her bag and begins reading.

* * *

"Wakey, Wakey," a finger pokes Rukia in the shoulder. Rukia twitches her eyes, her sleep slowly breaking. She slowly lifts her head from the book and rubs her eyes.

"Oh good, you're awake," the same voice says. Rukia clears her eyes to see a man in his late thirties or early forties with light blond hair wearing a green and white striped gardener's hat. He checks the clock,

"You might have time to make it if you run," he muses. Rukia tilts her head, confused on what he's saying. Then it hits her, time!

"Shit!" She stands up from the chair and quickly shoves everything in her bag. She yells out thank you to the stranger who woke her up as she runs to her class.

"Oh wait, you forgot your schedule-" But by then she was already gone. He takes a look at her schedule and pockets it with interest. Meanwhile, Rukia is wandering the halls, trying to figure out which room she has to get to.

"You look lost miss, is there anything I can help you with?" A man with a polite voice asks her.

"Yeah, I wanted to know what room is Biology I for Professor Ukitake's class," Rukia hastily asks. The man pushes his glasses at the bridge of his nose and smiles,

"Room 2225."

"Thank you!" Rukia makes a dash for the room.

"You're quite welcome," he says watching her go. So far, this day was not going Rukia's way, but at least she wouldn't worry about seeing that idiot of a teacher again. It was only one class, she would just have to power through. She finds room 2225. With only a minute to spare, she opens the closed door and the teacher says,

"You just keep popping everywhere don't you." Ichigo smirks at her, taking in her disheveled raven hair and her bloodshot, sleep deprived eyes. All Rukia can do is just stand frozen by the doorway, utterly shocked.

"Well, shit."

* * *

 **Phew! Glad that was done with, tell me what you think!** **P.S. I do not have masters in Physics (lol) in real life but you never know haha**


	2. Chapter 2

**_Hey, sorry for the delay but I'm back! Thanks for the reviews, follows and faves! Please enjoy ch. 2 :P_**

* * *

 _"You just keep popping everywhere, don't you?"_ That same sentence replays in her head as Rukia sits with her sinking thoughts of her new professor. That sarcastic tone of his voice playing in her mind like a violin. She runs her hand through her wispy, black hair, frustrated. How is she going to survive two class periods with that bastard? The sound of a door closing wakes her up from her thoughts.

"Good afternoon, I'm Professor Aizen and welcome to Calculus II," the man writes his name on the chalkboard. Rukia peers at him closely, he looks too familiar. He has messy brown hair, rectangular glasses and wears a placid smile. He draws his attention back to the class,

"I know you were all disappointed to not have school on Monday; the reason being there was a disturbance in the school's computer system. To which I may note has never reached a sudden problem before, but it had clearly became a setback. There's no need to worry now, everything has been taken care of and things should run smoothly. More importantly, I am glad to have some fresh faces this semester and I look forward to this year." He looks at each and every student's faces. To Rukia, it was quite a shame, since she had set everything perfect for the first day of school only for it to be set back a day. It was out of schedule and definitely threw her confidence routine off. But nevertheless, she's here in class in the beginnings of her second year. Professor Aizen spots Rukia's face and gives her a knowing smile. Rukia, deems the smile out of courtesy and she in turn gives him a tiny smile. At least she would begin her day without seeing _him_.

* * *

After her MWF schedule is finished, Rukia calls Ichimaru to pick her up at the usual spot. She didn't realize her schedule was missing until yesterday, but by then her classes were finished. It wasn't very hard to print another one online but still, to know some creep out there may have picked it up. The thought irks her. She gets a text from Ichimaru, telling her he's here. She steps outside and begins to walk towards the limo. As she walks, she takes in the spring atmosphere; the sun at its fullest rays, the cool spring breeze and the dozens of cherry blossom trees that are in the bloom. It makes her think of Byakuya, she knows Byakuya loves cherry blossoms; the maids at home must be decorating the mansion with them. After all, everything has to be perfect for him. She closes her mind and tries to breathe a little. She hears sudden footsteps, sensing that someone may be following her. Rukia takes a different turn from her usual route, but the stranger still persists. The stranger finally confronting Rukia, reaches for her shoulder. Rukia, taking full charge out of instinct, whirls around and socks the person with her right fist. Her eyes widen when she realizes who it is.

"Owwww, I was just going to give you a surprise," a certain red-haired classmate says while rubbing his jaw.

"Well, I'm sorry for being so cautious about a thing called stranger danger," Rukia apologizes sarcastically. It wasn't her damn fault for being safe. She gives him a hand and helps him to his feet.

"You know for a shorty like you, you throw some pretty hard punches." Rukia gives him the eye,

"Yeah, so what of it? Suddenly height plays a role in throwing punches?" She crosses her arms. Renji puts his hands out in front of him and nervously laughs,

"No, no not at all, I was just surprised that's all!" Rukia rolls her eyes and tries to change the subject,

"So what are you doing here anyway?" She hasn't seen anyone take this particular route…

"I was finished for the day, so I was just taking a shortcut towards home. Then I saw you were also walking my way. So I tried to give you a surprise but then I realized after, you don't really like surprises."

"You're right I don't," Rukia agrees. Renji puts his hands in his pockets,

"So you're going home?" Renji asks. Rukia freezes, not liking where this is going,

"Yea."

"Hey that's cool maybe we can walk together if it's on the way?" Renji suggests, hoping she would catch on.

"Ah, actually my house is pretty far, so I'm going to take the bus," Rukia lies. Renji knits his eyebrows in confusion,

"The bus stop is that way," he points to the opposite direction of which they were walking towards. Rukia mentally curses at him for being so persistent,

"Well, I was actually picking something up for my brother at the convenience store and then I was going to go home," Rukia notices the convenience store across the street from the corner of her eye.

"Ohhhh ok, I get it. Sorry for the twenty questions thing there," Renji smiles sheepishly.

"It's fine," Rukia gives a fake smile.

"You seem to be busy, so I'll just be off my way. I'll see you tomorrow in class," Renji starts to walk away.

"Right," Rukia nods her head and watches him leave until he turns around the corner. She waits for a couple seconds and then makes a run for it. She sees Gin casually leaning against the limo, hands in the pocket of his clad black suit. He whistles,

"There ya are, I was waiting for ya."

"I was stuck in traffic," she mumbles, she reaches for the door handle, but Gin opens the door for her instead.

"Now, we wouldn't Byakuya san's little sista opening the door fo' herself. Allow me." Gin gives her one of his snake smiles.

"Um yes," she says, still not meeting his eyes. She steps inside and they drive away from the scene.

* * *

They arrive at the mansion and Rukia steps inside to find all the maids are working frivolously around the house. She can feel the sweet tension in the air as everybody rushes to work on last minute small details. She walks into the drawing room, to find two of her favorite maids. Rangiku, who seems to be cleaning a vase and Nanao inspecting that vase she is cleaning.

"Rangiku, that's not clean enough! I want it to be spotless, you hear me," Nanao throws a rag at the lazy soul.

"I don't see anything wrong with it, it's decent," Rangiku defends herself.

"'Decent' is not spotless," Nanao retorts. Rangiku sighs,

"I don't think Mr. Byakuya would pay careful attention to a vase to see if it's spotless or not." A light chuckle escapes Rukia's mouth. Nanao really does take her job as head maid seriously. The two maids take notice of Rukia.

"Oh, Ms. Kuchiki I didn't know you had arrived," Nanao says.

"I just came a couple of minutes ago," Rukia says.

"I swear no one tells me anything around here," Nanao sighs, "You should get ready, your brother should be coming in an hour or so."

"Yes," Rukia swallows. Rangiku seizing the opportunity to escape says,

"Ms. Rukia needs someone to help her get ready," Rangiku rushes to Rukia's side, "After all her big brother is coming," Rangiku winks. Rukia blushed.

"Fine, go," Nanao waves her off. Rangiku jumps with joy, takes Rukia by the arm and escapes to her room.

* * *

"So Ms. Rukia what shall I do for you," Rangiku says while rummaging through Rukia's walk in closet.

"I'm okay with anything as long as it's not flashy or grand," Rukia says making sure Rangiku doesn't go overboard. Rukia, sitting on her ottoman, tries to finish some of her English homework. There are piles of "Rangiku's rejects" on the floor.

"Hmm, I simply can't choose," Rangiku finally sits down on another ottoman as well, tired. She looks over at what Rukia is up to and asks,

"Homework?"

"Yes but don't worry I'll almost done," Rukia replies. English has always been a blow off class. It's an easy language to master.

"I didn't get to ask you about your day," Rangiku says.

"It was okay, nothing special," Rukia shrugs. Rangiku smiles,

"Any new boys that have caught your eye?" Rukia widens her eyes and blushes furiously,

"No! Of course not," Rangiku doesn't seem to buy it and persists,

"Are you sure?" Rukia finishes her homework and puts everything inside in her bag. She gets up and states,

"Rangiku, I think I'll go for the traditional look." She successfully changes the subject because Rangiku lights up like a light bulb and says,

"Ah! In that case, I think you should go for this little number," Rangiku goes to the other side of the closet and reaches for a purple, silk kimono. She lays it out on the table. Rukia runs her fingers through the rich silk and smiles. Byakuya had picked it out for her. It had delicate, silver flower embroidery on it, it was quite a nice contrast to the rich, dark purple.

"Good choice," Rukia grins. Rangiku pulls out some makeup, shoes and a few other accessories.

"Let's get to work!"

* * *

The driver opens the door of the limo and out walks a tall man in an ebony, black suit. He has sharp, steel-gray eyes that doesn't seem to skip a beat and wears a crown of black hair that reaches to his shoulder. He walks up the white marble stairs to the mansion slowly, taking his time. The doorman greets him and opens the door. The first thing he sees is the mansion's staff, in two lines across from each other separated by the entrance path. As he walks the entrance, he is greeted by each staff member welcoming him home. Finally, a girl in a purple kimono comes his way, greeting him with the utmost respect,

" _Niisama_." He puts a gentle hand on her head and says softly,

"Rukia." A servant takes his belongings and he heads towards his bedroom to freshen up. After a while, he comes back and joins Rukia in the dining room. In the dining room, a full three-course dinner is set up extravagantly on the long cherry table. It's big enough to fit at least twenty people, but the numbers are always less. As they settle in for a while, eating all of Byakuya's favorite dishes. Byakuya finally asks her,

"How are your studies coming along? I see that you have started your second year." Rukia stops eating her food momentarily.

"Nothing I can't handle," Rukia responds cooly.

"For now, perhaps, but have you thought about the future?" He inquires. Rukia tries to breathe in, staying collected as possible. It's not like anything is foreign to her, she is used to questions like these from Byakuya. The cold, rigid atmosphere is familiar to her. For Byakuya, instead of socializing there is business. Everything is cut and clear; straight to the point.

"You claim that you have everything under control, but can you actually handle what is to come?" He continues.

"I'm definitely ready for anything," Rukia gives a confident answer. The truth is, she wasn't going to back down. She's going to prove to him just how important this also means to her.

"Good, I expect no mistakes." Byakuya continues to eat his food. Rukia trying to change the subject asks,

"How was your trip?" He looks up at her and says,

"It was successful as usual, from the new business deal we've signed, stocks should be fluctuating effectively," he says with mild interest. Rukia observes him; he has dark rings around his eyes and is a bit hunched from posture. He was gone for almost two months, longer than usual.

"You should get some rest," Rukia says with a concerned tone. Byakuya looks up at her soft eyes and says,

" _Right_ , I have a meeting tomorrow morning, excuse me." He excuses himself from the dining table and walks slowly away. Rukia sets her utensils aside and slouches a bit in her chair. She has lost her appetite.

* * *

The next day, Rukia comes into class with full confidence. After a night of no sleep, thinking about her brother's words, she comes in with a new mindset for this class. Physics wasn't going to be easy, but she'll have to make it work with that idiot of a teacher she has. Rukia sighs as she slides into her seat. Not long after, Renji comes along too and slides into the seat next to her.

"Hey, Rukia," Renji greets.

"You were almost late, you know," Rukia says while setting up her things.

"I still made it though," Renji points out. Rukia just shakes her head.

"Oh I just can't wait until Mr. Kurosaki comes through that door~!" a girl below Rukia's seat, swoons. _Oh not this again_ , Rukia thinks.

"I may not regret taking this class after all," her friend agrees. Rukia states as a matter of fact,

"He's probably come dressed as a college student again and preach to us lessons about life." Renji laughs, the two girls glare back at Rukia. Rukia doesn't seem to care.

"Ya but you also thought he was dumb too until he shut you up that other day in class," the girl retorts. The girl next to her laughs. Rukia can feel a vein popping out of her head.

"I was just pointing out that he should take his job more seriously, after all, this isn't high school," Rukia defends her statement solemnly.

"Yeah sure," the girl says not believing Rukia's excuse. The door finally opens, to reveal a totally different person Rukia has thought of. Ichigo comes in with a cup of coffee in his right hand while the other hand carrying his backpack. He gives more of a teacher esque appearance. He dons a collared check shirt and a dark navy tie, all underneath a tweed, brown sports jacket. On his wrist, a Swiss Army watch and instead of red sneakers, brown loafers. Oh and let's not forget the black frames on his face. The only thing that doesn't look different is his hair, which is still messier and orange than ever.

"Well hello everybody," he says loud and proud with a smile. The class happily greets back.

"Hey, so I'll put a review problem on the board and we'll carry on from there, ok?" Mr. Kurosaki says before writing on the board. Rukia is not buying this new teacher attitude. A few minutes pass, he calls the class back to his attention.

"Alright, we're going to try something a little different. I'll pick on one of you to solve the problem on the board, and then once you solve it, explain what you did," he claps his hands together and rubs them, as he thinks on who to call. Rukia ducks her head, hopefully, he won't pick on her since she's all the way in the back.

"Hmm I pick…" he smirks, already knowing the answer, "Rukia." He points at her delightful, hidden face. Rukia raises her head slowly, displeased. _Of course_. She gets up and walks toward the front. In person, he's much taller than her; at least by foot. She can tell he's holding his laughter back, enjoying every minute of this situation. But, she wasn't going to let him get the last laugh. Rukia looks up into those mischievous, taunting eyes of his and he, in turn, bores his eyes into hers. She looks back at the board and says under her breath,

" _Easy_." He hands her the yellow chalk and she begins focusing on the problem. Once she begins analyzing, she forms her plan and begins working. After five minutes, she's finished the problem.

"Done," she drops the chalk in his palm and begins walking back to her seat. _I win_ , she thinks proudly to herself.

"Oi," he calls back unexpectedly. Confused, Rukia turns around. He beckons his finger at her. Rukia still confused, comes over to him. He whispers in the shell of her ear,

" _I think you're missing something_." She pulls back and looks at him; he still has those taunting eyes. Rukia scans back at her work and doesn't seem to notice what the problem is. He gives a low laugh and shakes his head.

"Hey guys, what's Ms. Rukia missing?" He asks them casually.

"Her explanation!" They all reply back, louder than ever. She's completely forgotten! Rukia blushes out of embarrassment when the class laughs.

"Oh and don't forget the units as well," Ichigo taps her answer on the board. Rukia looks at him with a mixture of anger and bewilderment. _What more is to come of this day?_


	3. Chapter 3

**Yay the third chappie! Thank you all for following, favoring and reviewing! I look forward to more as I continue along.** **Well enjoy this one, I had good time writing it!**

* * *

"I like the outfit." Rukia flinches to see Rangiku by the closet door. She smiles and examines Rukia in the mirror. She adorns a black and white striped t-shirt tucked in some black shorts; it is followed by a long black cardigan that reaches up to her calf.

"Thanks, so where's Momo?" Rukia asks while grabbing some black ankle boots from the shelf.

"Momo wasn't feeling too well today, so _Ms. Nanao sama_ appointed me to check up on you and to tell your breakfast is ready," Rangiku says while sorting some of Rukia's accessories. She shows Rukia an expensive looking silver watch.

"No it's okay, I'm fine," Rukia replies, showing her own watch.

"Are you sure? This one looks better," Rangiku suggests again.

"Definitely," Rukia says without a second thought.

"Okay…" Rangiku looks at Rukia's old watch. The watch's black, leather strap looks worn down with a few frays sticking out. It almost looks as if it will break off any second. Rukia covers her hand around it unconsciously.

"Are you ready to head out?" Rangiku asks. Rukia double checks her room if she has everything set.

"Let's go," Rukia says, grabbing her bag. They head to the kitchen where breakfast is being served.

"For you Miss Rukia," The chef serves her a plate of smoked salmon on top of a poppy seed bagel with a bowl of freshly cut, fruits on the side.

"Thank you," Rukia says politely and takes a bite of her bagel.

"Good morning Ms. Kuchiki," Nanao walks into the kitchen; Rukia returns her greeting. "Rangiku, I told you to Xerox these copies first thing in the morning, Mr. Kuchiki needs them before he comes back from work." Nanao crosses her arms, glaring at Rangiku, who seems frustrated.

"Ahem, Nanao, I hope you recall saying that you needed me to check up on Rukia in the morning," Nanao's eye twitches at Rangiku's statement, "Look, what I'm trying to say is that just because Momo is sick, I can't handle all of the responsibilities you throw at me all at once." Nanao sighs, rubbing her temple with her fingers.

"Fine Rangiku, I understand that giving you all of these responsibilities at once can be troublesome. So just bear with me until Momo gets well, okay? And please don't forget to Xerox those copies. You don't want _to be late_." Suddenly, Rukia springs up like an electric charge; it's as if she remembered something important.

"Shit!" She curses, dropping her food. Everyone in the room looks at Rukia with gaped expressions. Rukia blushes,

"Sorry, I forgot that I have to meet up with my professor in the morning." Rukia scrambles out of her chair, grabbing her bag with her.

"Wait, Ms. Kuchiki, I'll call Mr. Ichimaru for you," Nanao calls out to Rukia but it's no use after hearing the mansion's door close behind her.

"Poor girl, you think she'll make it?" Rangiku asks Nanao.

"I'm not so sure myself." Nanao simply states.

* * *

 _The last thing I need is Kurosaki to get the upper hand on me_ , Rukia thinks to herself as she runs straight to the university. The university isn't too far but it's still quite a walk. Luckily, after being on her high school's track team, where running a mile was their warm up, it shouldn't be a problem. Rukia checks her worn down watch, it reads 9:46. Class begins at ten, she'll at least have about ten minutes if she makes it around 9:50. She runs until she reaches the steps of the university, breath running out of her system. She looks at her watch again, it's 9:51, good, there is still time. She makes her way to the science wing and searches for his office. She's been to this same office many times, but only now it felt foreign to her; a different person in the wrong chair. There's nobody here, what on earth is she going to-

"Looking for someone," a smooth voice says behind her. Rukia whirls around on instant recognition,

"You!" Ichigo breaks into a wide smile that shows his pearly whites.

"Yes, was there something I can help you with Ms. Rukia?" He puts his hands in the pockets of his trousers and leans against his door frame, anticipating her response.

"I was here for that assignment we had in class, I came to turn it in," Rukia says in her measured tone. She's still wary of the fact he's smiling again, which is never a good sign.

"Oh really?" Then right then and there he bursts out in laughter. This catches Rukia out of guard; she's almost distracted of how youthful his real laugh sounds. Usually his laugh comes out in snickers. He uses the doorframe as his support to finally stop laughing. He then says in a more solid tone,

"You were going to come at 9:40; what happened?" Rukia, without taking her eyes off of Ichigo, says,

"I've overslept, I apologize." Ichigo shakes his head and starts to lean off the doorframe.

"You were going to come in with questions; I thought we had a clear understanding that we were going to have a checkpoint of the lesson. Not just turning an assignment late situation. I'm not accepting it." Ichigo's mouth drops to a thin line. Rukia curls her fists, she knew this was coming.

"I understood the lesson; I don't need a 'checkpoint'," Rukia says as calmly as she can without her anger seeping in. This doesn't impress Ichigo, he looks at the clock hung on his wall and says,

"It's 9:58, you better get to class." _That's the final straw_.

"On second thought, I actually do have a question." Ichigo gets taken by surprise and but he doesn't say anything.

"Why are you such an ass?" It was such a blunt, harsh question that some people might question whether or not it was appropriate. Ichigo walks closer to Rukia, giving her little space around her circle. But Rukia isn't bothered by him; she was going to confront him, right here, right now. They stand in silence for seconds before Ichigo responding closely to her face,

"Why am I such an ass? I'm not so sure. But I guess I should be asking you the same question since you seem to be so good at it." Rukia widens her eyes in disbelief. Did he actually just say that to her? She almost raises her hand to slap him but she stops realizing it wasn't worth it.

"You are the most despicable idiot I have seen yet. I can't believe Mr. Ukitake gave someone like you his job," she seethes. Ichigo opens his mouth but he is cut off from the sound of the door opening,

"Yo Kurosaki, I got a call that you weren't-" his coworker comes in at the wrong moment. His gaze falls upon Rukia,

"Oh, I didn't realize you had-"

"It's nothing Uryu, I'll be right there," he snaps. He leaves the room without looking back at Rukia. Rukia, on the other hand, seems frozen; she was going to have to go back to that same classroom. _How awkward_.

"Excuse me," she says while passing Uryu. She closes the door behind her, leaving Uryu by himself.

"Same old Kurosaki," he comments.

* * *

Renji looks over at Rukia's empty seat, wondering where in the world she could be. Rukia never misses class; in fact, she's always one of the first ones to arrive. Well, it is 10:06, it would be safe to assume she might be sick, which is the most logical reason she's not here.

"Ahh, where's Mr. Kurosaki?" A girl moans loudly. The whole class is upset because of his absence.

"I know I was looking forward to seeing him today, his ass is the only thing that keeps me interested in this class," the girl next to her agrees. Renji chuckles to himself, _it's a shame Rukia missed her chance of being able to witness this. She would have loved it_.

Just then, Mr. Kurosaki comes running through the door. He puts his items on the desk and apologizes properly,

"I sincerely apologize for coming in so late, but I had some business to take care of." Ichigo casts his eyes down momentarily before looking straight ahead onto each of his students' faces. The students, on the other hand, are so focused on Ichigo that they don't realize Rukia comes in a minute after his arrival. Renji blinks his eyes as if he was seeing a ghost in the seat next to him.

"Rukia, what- how?" Renji stutters. Rukia shifts her violet eyes on him,

"I'll tell you later." Renji gets taken aback but sits quietly. Mr. Kurosaki writes the word "exam" on the blackboard.

"So when is the exam?" The white haired prodigy inquires. Ichigo takes a sip of his black coffee,

"Thursday, are you scared Toshiro?" He teases the young 15-year-old. Toshiro makes a humph sound,

"I'm not scared of anything; I just needed to know when it was so I can ace it." Ichigo laughs,

"Yeah class heads up, the exam is on Thursday, it'll go over topics we've discussed in condensed matter- quantum mechanics, you know all that great stuff." The class groans in distress when he emphasizes the word "great", they may like the teacher but the actual content of the class is very challenging.

"But electromagnetism is what we're working on today. If anyone has any questions about the exam, I'll take them in twenty minutes before class ends. Don't worry; we don't focus too much on electromagnetism until after this test is over." Ichigo's eyes cross over to Rukia's, who he catches staring at him. Her eyes are the same as they were back at his office, confident with a hint of arrogance. Rukia's eyes travel from Ichigo to the blackboard behind him. _This is our first exam_ , she thinks. It means the first step of getting Byakuya's approval abroad and another step in passing this class.

* * *

"Are you going tell me or what?" Renji impatiently questions. They are both in the cafe; Rukia ordered a cappuccino while Renji ordered the chicken salad. Usually, Renji asks help from Rukia in math in exchange for paying the bill. But right now he is dying to know what happened to Rukia.

"I thought you were a vegan?" Rukia asks casually.

"Me a vegan? Hell no, I've tried that and let's just say it didn't work out too well," Renji chortles with laughter. Rukia is good at changing the subject.

"Really? Because you always-" She starts off again, but Renji cuts her off,

"Alright Rukia, stop changing the subject, you said you were going to tell me why you were so late." Rukia takes a dragging sip of her cappuccino. She really wished she hadn't hinted to Renji about her tardiness. The heat of the moment just overtook her.

"I just had an incident. You don't need to worry, it wasn't huge or anything," Rukia brushes the topic. Renji doesn't seem to be buying it, he crosses his arms and sits upright against the chair.

"What sort of incident? Come on Rukia, you gotta give me something. Now that you think of it, Kurosaki was late also. That's really weird since-" Renji begins to unfold his thoughts but Rukia stops him mid-sentence,

"Ah, Renji! Don't you think it's time for your math class?" She exclaims loudly. " Let's see the time is-" Rukia checks her wrist for her watch, but it's not there. Rukia turns white all over.

"My watch!" She gets up quickly from her chair and begins looking around.

"What happened?" Renji watches her freaking out.

"My watch it's gone, I don't know where I lost it," Rukia says while looking under the table.

"Ooh, this cannot be happening! That was such an important watch!" Rukia grabs her black wispy hair in distress. Renji puts his hands on her shoulders to bring her attention,

"Don't worry Rukia, we'll find it. Where was the last place, you read the time?"

"I don't know, I was running and then I finally stopped at the university's entrance. This was probably the last time I checked-"

"Could it be at the school's entrance?" Renji interrupts her. Rukia looks up at Renji's eyes, horrified.

"Then it's lost forever, someone could have easily picked it up and pocketed it with interest. It's too late." Rukia sits back in her seat, with a deadpanned look in her eyes.

"It's not too late, I'll go look for it right now." Renji begins to leave but Rukia interjects,

"No Renji it's alright, you don't have to do that for me. Besides, you'll be late for your next class." Renji is again surprised by Rukia but he doesn't argue. He pays for the bill and gathers his items.

"If I ever I find something, I'll let you know," he states before leaving Rukia. She nods, but in her head, she realizes that there is very little chance.

* * *

Seconds, minutes and hours pass by until Rukia is awoken by a voice.

"Is everything alright Miss?" She wakes up slowly to see a particular man with a green and white striped gardener's hat. Oh great, another familiar figure.

"What," she says; unsure of what is going on. It's strange she thought she had a dream of losing her precious watch but in fact, it was worse than that. It was called reality.

"You seemed stressed out earlier and I was wondering if I could help," he continues. Rukia squints her eyes at him.

"Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry for not introducing myself. I'm Kisuke Urahara but just call me Kisuke, I run the cafe here." he tips his hat to her like a gentleman. Rukia raises an eyebrow. He's dressed like an old man, with the dark heavy coat and green loose fitting shirt and pants. The green and white striped hat is the one that really outdoes the look for him.

"It's okay, I'm fine. I must get going now," Rukia gets up and begins to pack her items.

"Don't worry, you still got time," He chuckles as if he told a joke. Rukia doesn't seem too impressed.

"I have to leave for my next class." Rukia contradicts. Kisuke looks like he might laugh again,

"Where? Biology? You still have about ten minutes and it's not far from here." Rukia widens her eyes,

"How do you know that?" _Was he a stalker_? There's delight in his mischievous eyes,

"You left this behind," he takes out her first-day schedule from his pocket. Rukia quickly snatches it away from him.

"Don't worry, I've got it all memorized in here," he taps his head.

"What do you mean I left it behind?" Rukia asks, still buying to the fact that he is a creep. He sits crossed legged in his chair. He smiles,

"I mean that day you were late to your class, you were in such a rush that you left your schedule behind. Also, may I add the fact, that if it weren't for me waking you up, you might have been still sleeping like a baby." She doesn't know whether to thank him or to get creeped out more.

"Um thanks…, but why didn't you give me back my schedule before. I've come to this place many times prior to our 'official' meeting and, more importantly, why did you _memorize my schedule_?" Rukia continues to question his actions.

"I wanted to wait for the perfect opportunity to return it and besides your schedule was _interesting_." He smiles like he's keeping a secret. Rukia raises her eyebrows again, in confusion.

"I-"

"That's all I'm telling you now, you've got to get to class missy. Here's my card," he hands her a white business card that says "Karakura Cafe" with, she presumes, is Kisuke's number on it.

"Don't worry; I'm not a conman or a lowlife drug dealer, just a simple, ordinary man." He says before tipping his hat to her and leaving. Rukia looks at the card one more time, then she drops it in her bag with the rest of her items and leaves the mysterious cafe.

* * *

"The role of tRNA in the process of translation as you know helps with the decoding of mRNA. MRNA helps specify amino acids. This is all produced-" Ichigo lectures on with the class. His bio class is surprisingly calmer than his physics class. There's only one person from his previous class, Rukia. He notices her expression, and by the looks of it, something seems unusual. She looks paler than usual and she has a lost look in her eyes. He wonders if she's even listening at all. The bell rings and that's the cue to leave.

"Alright, I have a little bit to continue from today, so we'll finish lecturing on Thursday. Have a good evening." He announces. He looks back at Rukia, who still seems stuck on that blank stare.

"You know when the bell rings, it's a sign that class is over," he muses to get her attention. It seems to have no effect on her.

"Hm?" He walks up to the aisle directly below her seat and snaps his fingers in front of her face. Her pupils dilate for a second before returning to normal. She looks around and then back again to Ichigo.

"Rukia are you okay?" She is taken aback by the sound of her name from his voice. He always teases her with the "Ms." part.

"Yea, just fine." Her voice comes in short, quiet breaths. _Is she lying_? Ichigo observes her face more closely,

"Are you sure? You're not still angry about what happened earlier?" Rukia looks to the window; the evening sun is still pouring its light into the room. It's such a pretty sight.

"I'm over it," Rukia says, still looking at the window. She gets up from her seat and begins to walk towards the door. Ichigo watches her figure leave. Before she goes, she pauses to say,

" _Sorry_." It's one simple word, but it completely throws him off. Ichigo runs a hand through his hair, feeling frustrated with a mix of slow guilt.


	4. Chapter 4

**It's finally the fourth chapter! Thanks so much for the reviews, follows, and faves; I cannot tell you how much it makes my day lol. Anyway, please enjoy this one~~**

* * *

"Kurosaki are you even listening to me?" Ichigo looks up,

"Yea Uryu." Uryu takes a seat in front of Ichigo's desk and studies him behind his rectangular glasses.

"Oh? What was I saying?" Uryu crosses his legs. Ichigo leans back in his leather chair and smirks at Uryu,

"Weren't you saying about getting a new sewing machine that matches your glasses?" Uryu scowls, rolling his eyes at his stupid comment,

"Ha ha, very funny." After teaching hours are always best, the mood is less hectic and it's usually a time to kick back and have a drink. Ichigo sighs and loosens up his tie,

"I'm sorry Uryu, I'm just a little stressed out." Uryu raises an eyebrow,

"You? Stressed out? Are you sure you're Ichigo Kurosaki?" Ichigo closes his eyes and just smirks,

"Ha ha, very funny." Uryu rolls his eyes at Ichigo's stupid imitation of himself. Ichigo gets up from his chair and walks around the room a bit. Uryu's eyes follow his figure going back and forth.

"You being stressed out, does it have anything to do with that _girl_?" Ichigo stops his pacing and looks onto Uryu.

"No, why do you assume?"

"Because of the way you acted this morning; you looked like you wanted to eat her or something. I've never seen you look that worked up in quite a while," Uryu comments. Ichigo walks over by the tall window and takes a look at Karakura city's luminous skyline. The city looks way better at night.

"That was nothing but a petty argument," Ichigo answers solemnly. Uryu follows Ichigo's eyes to the view of the skyline. _Why does he get the room with the view?_ Uryu thinks to himself. He looks back at Ichigo and asks,

"Who was she?"

"Nobody." Ichigo still gazes at the view.

"Clearly she sounds like someone of importance," Uryu states. Ichigo looks at Uryu and returns back to his desk.

"She's a student," Ichigo says quietly. Uryu leans forward in his chair,

"Already having problems with the students are we? Tsk Tsk." All of a sudden Ichigo explodes,

"Hold up, she was the one who started it. You should have seen her with that damn arrogant attitude she had on; it's as if…" Ichigo stops, realizing Uryu got him where he wanted. Uryu takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes,

"Kurosaki, you have to understand that this is _a student_ you're talking to. You can't act impulsively; meaning you can't get in students' faces and tell them whatever the hell you want just because you don't like the way they act." Ichigo sits quietly in his chair, listening to what Uryu actually has to say. Usually, he would be snoring by now at one of Uryu's famous mothering lectures. Uryu continues, "Remember, you're a professor now; everything changes."

"Alright, alright, I get it; time to put on my man pants," Ichigo replies.

" _That's one way of putting it_." Uryu makes a face. Ichigo laughs at his expression."Well, my work here is done," Uryu gets from his seat and grabs his bag, "Are you coming?"

"Nah, I still got to write this test for my class," Ichigo says while sorting through papers on his desk.

"Suit yourself," Uryu says before stepping out of the room. Ichigo shakes his head and smiles. He takes a big swing of his coffee before getting down to business. After about 30 minutes and almost half way through writing the test, Ichigo decides to pack his items and leave. As he walks towards the door, he steps on something along the way. Ichigo looks down and finds that there is a watch on the floor by where Uryu was sitting.

"Uryu must have forgotten his ugly watch." He picks it up and examines it, he wonders if it was always this broken looking or did he actually break it? He takes the watch and puts in the drawer of his desk. _Let's hope he won't get too mad_ , he thinks to himself.

* * *

"Ms. Rukia, I got you some snacks!" Rangiku exclaims while she enters Rukia's room.

"Just put it on the table," Rukia says without looking up at Rangiku. Rangiku sets the snacks on the table and goes over to Rukia's desk.

"Are you ever going to take a break for once? This much studying is not healthy for you," Rangiku looks at all the piles of notes that Rukia has on her desk. She's been studying ever since she got home.

"I can't. I have an important physics exam coming up and I can't afford to slack off," Rukia says. Rangiku sighs and walks away,

"Fine, I suppose you don't have time for little ol' me. I guess five minutes of your time is a lot to ask for a studious college girl as yourself. If you need anything, I'll be in the kitchen, alone, by myself." Rangiku says each sentence with a dragging, over dramatic tone. Rukia rolls her eyes and looks up at Rangiku,

"I suppose five minutes wouldn't-" As soon as Rukia speaks, Rangiku rushes to the room and lies down on Rukia's bed before she can take back her decision. Rukia shakes her head but nevertheless, smiles at Rangiku's actions.

"So what did you do at school today?" Rangiku asks. A sick feeling approaches Rukia's stomach, all of sudden she is reminded of the watch, the exam, and Kurosaki.

"Nothing special," Rukia lies with an indifferent tone. She doesn't want Rangiku to worry about her; it's best if she kept her problems to herself.

"Oh but why the sad face? You know your voice says one thing but your eyes say another," Rangiku questions. Rukia's violet eyes widen, she underestimated Rangiku.

"It's really nothing, Rangiku. I'm fine," Rukia fights to make her voice sound as steady as possible. She is _not_ going to start crying her eyes out. Rangiku sits in a seating position on Rukia's bed,

"Come here," Rangiku pats the space next to her. Rukia reluctantly sits next to Rangiku.

"I took acting classes once, and I've learned that if you let your inward emotions interfere with your outward emotions, it doesn't make a perfect picture. So please choose one emotion over the other dear; you can't act your way out of everything," Rangiku explains softly so Rukia can understand. Rukia is surprised, this must one of the few times she'd ever seen Rangiku this serious. She takes a deep breath and breathes out altogether. She can feel the negative energy escaping.

"I'll try to remember that the next time I try to pull a fast one," Rukia jokes. For a moment, she forgets all of the horrible events that happened today. Rangiku laughs.

"I'm also here if you ever want to talk about something, I'm good at keeping secrets," Rangiku winks.

"It's okay, I'm good now. Rangiku, thanks for cheering me up." Rukia grins. This really was the highlight of her day. The pain from her stomach is starting to disappear as well. Rangiku gives her a big hug and then notices the time over Rukia's shoulder,

"I think I may have gone a little over the five-minute mark, but I'll take it as my cue to leave; Good luck Ms. Rukia!" Rangiku says before running downstairs. Rukia smiles and returns back to studying.

* * *

The limo pulls away as soon as Rukia steps outside. Her black boots _clink_ with every step she takes along the sidewalk curb. Last night, she couldn't sleep at all. She kept dreaming about what would happen if she failed Thursday's exam. The outcomes consisted from Byakuya kicking her out of the house to a 100 Kurosakis all laughing at her once. It's bad enough she sees him almost every day, but now he was starting to appear in her dreams. It was downright horrifying. She can barely handle one, let alone a 100.

"I only have one more day; breathe Rukia," she tells herself.

"Are you talking to yourself?" Rukia's eyes widen as she turns around to see her least favorite person. As if it was magic, Ichigo comes strolling in behind her with his signature cup of coffee in hand and that sly grin on his face. The only thing that seemed different from his usual attire was that he wasn't wearing glasses.

"What are you doing here?" Rukia asks, ignoring his question.

"Going to school." Ichigo winks as he passes by her. Rukia's mouth opens then closes, being unable to figure out how to contradict his simplistic response.

"You don't teach any other classes?" Rukia asks as she catches up to his pace. Ichigo takes a sip of his coffee and responds,

"Only bio and physics, unfortunately, you're in both of them."

"I think it's the other way around," Rukia responds in a colder tone. The sound of silence starts to fill between them. Rukia, about to say something, opens her mouth but Ichigo's ringtone cuts her off. He picks it up,

"Hello?"

"Ichigo WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" The voice speaks so loud that even Rukia can hear it (without speaker).

"Dad, what is it?" Ichigo tries to hush him down.

"Is this how you SPEAK TO ME? If your mother were here she would be SO DISAPPOINTED!" He roars right in Ichigo's ear. Rukia tries to keep her laughter from spilling; she wants to hear more of this delightful conversation.

"I'm sorry Dad, but can you please explain to me why are you calling?" Ichigo's voice sounds even more desperate.

"Don't tell me you have forgotten your SISTERS' BIRTHDAYS!" He yells even louder. _That can't be good_ , Rukia thinks to herself. Ichigo pinches the bridge of his nose,

"Dad, Yuzu and Karin's birthdays are on May 6th, that's six days from now."

"That's on A SCHOOL NIGHT! DON'T TELL ME YOU WANT MY PRECIOUS GIRLS TO PARTY ON A SCHOOL NIGHT!" Ichigo suddenly over the brink of irritation yells,

"NO OLD MAN, I'M JUST SAYING THAT THEIR BIRTHDAY IS NOT UNTIL A FEW DAYS!" Rukia thinks, _I should have brought popcorn, this is better than reality television_.

"GOOD, then let's have the party on SATURDAY!" Ichigo's dad exclaims.

"OK," Ichigo shouts.

"GOOD, GOOD! Oh and since when did your voice sound so WEAK? DON'T TELL ME YOU STARTED TALKING LIKE A MOUSE AGAIN!" That's when Rukia couldn't handle it anymore, she explodes with loud laughter. Ichigo's face turns red.

"IS THAT A GIRL I HEAR? IS SHE WITH YOU? HEY ARE YOU ICHIGO'S-" Ichigo hangs up, his face is a deep shade of red. He looks at Rukia, who is grinning all over.

"That has to be one of the funniest conversations I have ever heard in my life. I like the way your dad screams at you," Rukia comments, as she wears a smug grin.

"Yeah well it's all fun and games," Ichigo mutters. As soon as they continue the path, Rukia takes out a clear umbrella out of her bag. "Why are you taking your umbrella out?" Ichigo questions. Rukia looks at him as if he grew two horns on his head,

"Why do you think? Look up." She points to the sky. The skies above them start to gray in, indicating there might be some showers.

"Shit! I am never walking again." Ichigo run a hand through his hair. Rukia rolls her eyes,

"You should have checked the weather," Rukia states. Rain clouds form and it slowly starts to drizzle. She opens up her umbrella.

"Give me that," Ichigo orders. Rukia looks at him like he's grown two horns and a tail,

"Hell no, too-" She starts to protest but he takes the umbrella and holds it over the both of them.

"Ok, how is this going to work if you're holding it more on your side?" Rukia says, irritated.

"You're too far, come closer," Ichigo beckons his hand to her. Rukia hesitantly comes closer to him so that her shoulder brushes his arm. From this distance, she can smell his cologne. It smells almost intoxicating, something like freshly cut ginger. Rukia sneaks a look at him, everything about him contradicts with this weather. Everything from his bright orange hair to his confident personality seems to contrast the dull, boring rain. _Oh god, now I'm starting to have thoughts about him_ , Rukia snaps out of it. They stay beside each other until they arrive on the campus.

"Thanks for not letting me get soaked," Ichigo smirks as he hands her the umbrella. Rukia slowly nods and watches him run towards the front entrance. But his scent is still here, still lingering in her head.

* * *

"Rukia, may I see you after class," Professor Aizen calls out to Rukia. Rukia grabs her bag and walks over to his desk.

"Yes, Professor?" Rukia asks. Aizen smiles,

"Rukia for these past few weeks, you have gotten full marks on every quiz and assignment we had in class," he folds his hands, "Which brings me to the only conclusion: you must be cheating." Rukia knits her eyebrows in confusion,

"I'm sorry?" Rukia says incredulously. Cheating was definitely not her style; Byakuya always says cheating makes a man only a percent of what they are actually capable of.

"Of course, there's another conclusion; you are a little too smart for this class," Professor Aizen fixes the glasses on his nose.

"Umm?" Rukia says. Aizen chuckles,

"I'm teaching Calculus III next semester but I am also teaching Stats as well. I was wondering if perhaps you would be interested in taking that course." Aizen suggests.

"I don't know, I'm not really interested in the field of business or math," Rukia says truthfully.

"Hm? I would have thought so, aren't you related to Byakuya Kuchiki?" A smile creeps onto Aizen's face. This catches Rukia off guard, only a few people knew of their relation to each other. It was supposed to a close knit secret.

"Y-yes that's true, but," Rukia pauses for a bit and then says, "I'll definitely think about it." She closes with a fake a smile. Aizen nods his head,

"Of course, no need to rush. I just assume since you and Byakuya seem so similar," he notes.

"How do you know him?" Rukia wonders. Aizen begins to pack his items into his leather briefcase,

"He was a student of mine in one of my early years of teaching, probably one of the best students I ever taught," Aizen smiles as if he were seeing a flashback.

"I never knew that," Rukia seems astonished. He waves her off,

"That was quite some time ago. I'm sure he doesn't remember now, seeing that he is off ruling the world with that company of his." _Ruling the world is no overstatement_ , Rukia thinks.

"You won't tell anyone about me being related to-"

"I promise, your secret is safe with me," Aizen says as he walks towards the exit. "I hope you'll put thought in our discussion, have a good day Rukia."

"Likewise," Rukia repeats. Once he leaves, she sighs loudly. Why must people put her in such difficult positions? She goes to the pit stop, aka the café, and orders a cappuccino to calm her nerves. She notices that the mysterious man with the gardener's hat is nowhere to be found. Is he maybe secretly watching her from a hiding spot? How does he know so much everything in the first place? Who was he exactly? It all seemed jumbled up, nothing in the right pieces…

"Hello? Miss?" Someone calls out to her, waking her up from curious thoughts.

"Oh? Yeah?" She brings her head up suddenly, feeling a strong head rush. The first image she sees is a waitress in about her mid or late thirties, with long, dark magenta hair tied up in a high ponytail and catlike eyes.

"You forgot to pay the bill," the waitress says.

"I'm so sorry. I fell asleep; this place is pretty relaxing," Rukia jokes while taking out a ten from her wallet.

"It's alright; I didn't want to wake you earlier. I figured college kids get little sleep as it is," the waitress says as she accepts the ten from Rukia.

"Keep the change," Rukia says. The waitress smiles and puts the bill in her back pocket. She then goes off to collect some dirty dishes from the other table. Rukia looks back at the waitress and wonders if she might know something about the man. There's only one way to find out.

"You wouldn't happen to know someone who works here that wears a gardener's hat?" Rukia asks the waitress. The waitress stops her table bussing and looks at Rukia with a confused look.

"No, not that I know of." The waitress answers.

"Never mind, forget I mentioned," Rukia says, regretting that she ever asked. _Of course_ , what was she thinking about believing in some stranger? Rukia looks at the wall clock and realizes she needs to leave for her next class. After all, time waits for no man.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello guys, for those who have heard Bleach is finally ending! Bleach will always be in my heart and the characters that go along with it. I know you will all be eagerly awaiting the last chapter but for now enjoy this one~ Thanks for the reviews, follows and faves!**

* * *

The next morning, Rukia wakes up to the sound of her alarm ringing precisely at eight o'clock. She feels relaxed and ready because she didn't have to pull an all-nighter since two days of intense studying paid off. Going to sleep at one o'clock was way better than four. All there is left to do now is revise some of the notes that she was studying yesterday. She goes to the bathroom to freshen up before approaching her desk full of papers. Her notes are arranged neatly according to topic and lesson. She picks up her notes of quantum superposition and quietly revises the contents. This was the lesson that was probably the most difficult to grasp. It would have been easier if Kurosaki explained it clearly. _All he ever did was rush things_ , she thought. When she had a question he would look at her with those taunting eyes and give an answer that would lead her to more questions. It was as if he wanted her to keep asking for more. Well, Rukia had more pride than that, she would have to figure it out herself. Figuring things out on her own wasn't anything new to her. Everything usually works out fine at the end. As long as failure wasn't an option… a picture of Byakuya pops into her head. She can't let him down. She has been given every facility from Byakuya and if she still can't succeed then…. Rukia sighs and puts her papers down briefly; it is too early to think about defeat. She walks to her closet, picks out a Karakura University jacket, sporting the colors purple, white and black, and some dark wash, skinny jeans. While she changes, Rukia catches her reflection in the closet mirror. She had been so immersed in studying; she hasn't bothered to notice her appearance in the mirror lately. She looks into the mirror and sees she light shades of purple rings underneath her eyes which make her eyes seem visually more violet. Her skin seems to be doing fine, still retaining its natural ivory color but her hair appears to be longer coming a little past her shoulder. She'll have to get a trim later she mentally notes. After a half hour of more revising, she finally packs all of her notes in a single file and places it inside her black bag. She escapes down to the kitchen where the usual breakfast is being served. As she descends down the staircase the first face she sees is Byakuya. Red question marks are going off immediately in her head of why on Earth is he here at this hour, but she keeps quiet.

"Good morning Nii Sama," Rukia greets politely with a bow.

"Good morning Rukia," Byakuya responds. A few awkward seconds pass by before Rukia says,

"What brings you here at this hour?" Byakuya turns his gray eyes on Rukia and says softly,

"Today, I have work later in the afternoon," Byakuya walks slowly indicating Rukia to follow him, "I also heard it was your exam if I am not correct?" Rukia widens her eyes at this, she never told him about the exam.

"Yes, I have my physics exam today," Rukia says walking alongside Byakuya.

"Nanao informed me yesterday that it was your exam so I decided that I would come to work later than usual. I want to have a word with you," Byakuya solemnly says. Rukia can feel her heart beating hard against her chest. It would have been nice if Nanao informed her as well that Byakuya was going to work later. She takes a deep breath and tries to remain cool. The last thing she needs is to be a nervous wreck during her exam. Byakuya leads her to her office and closes the door. Whenever he's at home the two places he spends the most time is his office and his bedroom. Sometimes if he's really busy he will fall asleep in his office. The office is a huge room, big enough to fit two master bedrooms maybe even three. From the floor to his desk, everything is beautifully decorated and furnished with old oak. The floor is adorned with handcrafted Turkish rugs that look too beautiful to step on. The office has tall arched windows that are draped with burgundy silk curtains. Placed above on the high ceiling is a crystal chandelier that looks old enough to be considered vintage. Overall the office has a gothic appearance that seems to suit Byakuya's rich taste. Inside in some of his cabinets are little trinkets that represent souvenirs from his travels to foreign countries. It is one place Rukia likes to look at whenever she is at his office. She sits down on one of his overpowering chairs that are situated in front of his desk. Byakuya takes a seat in his own chair.

"Rukia, I know it is only 9 o'clock and you still did not have your breakfast, so I will not take too much of your time. I wanted to talk about your exam," Byakuya crosses two of his hands perfectly in front of him. His face is perfectly calm with the expression of elegance and grace, a face that leaves people with a feeling of awe and fright. That was a part of his beauty and personality.

"Yes Nii sama," Rukia addresses.

"Rukia, I recall you saying that your classes were not difficult to handle and I trust that you may have everything under control. Each year may get even more wearing than the last, but this could only benefit you of showing me how you can handle higher stakes. This is your last year to prove to me how much you have grown because this is the year I will decide whether you will stay or leave." After his final sentence, the room resumes to its usual dark silence. Confusion interrupts Rukia, _this was new_. It only seemed like a nightmare that Byakuya would throw her out of the house, but for it to actually happen. Would Byakuya actually do that to her? Cast her away like that? Rukia sits upright against her chair,

"Nii sama you are saying that if I don't pass this year with good marks, I could possibly see myself out of this household," Rukia says every word slowly. Byakuya responds firmly,

"Correct." All of a sudden she feels her heart sinking down to her stomach. Talk about pressure. She can either get his approval or not; simple as that. It was written in black and white. Rukia stands up,

"I understand Nii sama; I won't let you down," Rukia says before bowing. Byakuya nods slightly in acceptance and dismisses Rukia. Rukia leaves his office and walks to the kitchen. Even though she is not as hungry as she was a while ago, she will need to gain her strength for this exam.

* * *

"Good morning Ms. Rukia!" Rangiku yells across the room. Rukia smiles and returns her greeting,

"Good morning Rangiku." Rukia walks over to the kitchen counter and sits on one of the chair stools. The chef serves her a plate of two slices of French bread with orange marmalade on top, a glass of orange juice and some freshly cut fruits in a side bowl.

"Did you sleep well Ms. Kuchiki sama?" Momo asks while coming to Rukia's side. Rukia takes a bite of her bread and then responds,

"Yes I did; thank you for not waking me today." Momo laughs a bit at Rukia and says,

"Well, you did give specific orders to not wake you up personally on exam days. I'm glad you had some rest." Rukia grins kindly towards Momo. She was always so caring and careful in her work. It was good to know she was feeling better now.

"I was thinking Ms. Rukia that after you have your exam, maybe we can go shopping; something tells me you need a new haul," Rangiku suggests while fixing Rukia's hair in her hands.

"Rangiku, just because you want to go shopping doesn't mean you need to drag Ms. Kuchiki as an excuse," a voice contradicts Rangiku's suggestion. Rangiku rolls her eyes,

"I'm sure you can join in too Nanao if you aren't too busying telling everyone what to do," Rangiku doesn't bother to turn around to see Nanao's annoyed face. She finally fixes Rukia's hair while Rukia has finished her breakfast.

"Good morning Nanao," Rukia says to break the ice.

"Good morning Ms. Kuchiki, I hope you had some good rest. The limo is ready when you are," Nanao informs Rukia. Rukia nods her head and gets up to say goodbye to everyone. Then, she exits the kitchen to meet Mr. Ichimaru outside.

"Good morning Ms. Kuchiki," Gin says to Rukia. He is wearing his usual black suit but this time, he has black aviators on. For some reason, this puts Rukia to ease, probably because she doesn't have to see his eyes. Come to think of it, she hasn't really seen his eyes, they are always closed mysteriously.

"Morning Ichimaru san," Rukia says. Gin opens the limo door and she almost steps in until she hears Rangiku's voice from a distance.

"Ms. Rukia! You forgot your bag!" Rangiku runs down to her, huffing and puffing. When she finally arrives, Rukia takes the bag from her and says,

"Thanks, Rangiku, I can't believe I almost forgot it." Rangiku smiles openly, breath running in and out of her system.

"Good morning Rangiku," Gin says to her casually with a sly smile. Rangiku's blue eyes turn from Rukia to Gin. Her expression stiffens ever so slightly.

"Morning Gin," she responds with an indifferent tone. Rukia notices Rangiku's sudden shift of expression. She's pretending not to care almost. She wonders if something…

"Are you ready to go Ms. Kuchiki?" Gin says, holding the door again for Rukia. Rukia shakes her frivolous thoughts and steps into the limo.

"I'll see ya later Rangiku," Gin says before stepping into the limo and driving off. Rangiku closes her eyes and clutches the gold necklace around her neck.

* * *

" _This is it_ ," Rukia says before entering the classroom. When she walks in, she sees the whole class in a mess. Everyone is either, frantically asking questions, scribbling equations on the board or flipping over notes. In amidst of it, she sees Renji, who for once is early to class, asking the 15-year-old prodigy for help.

"Bro you gotta help me," Renji says desperately. Toshiro crosses his arms and shakes his head.

"You already asked me this question and I don't like repeating myself," Toshiro says firmly.

"I know but you explained it too fast, could you possibly go slower?" Renji asks again. Toshiro raises an eyebrow and gets up abruptly from his seat.

"I need to use the washroom," he announces and proceeds to leave. Renji sighs and runs a hand through his hair in distress.

"What do you need Renji?" Rukia asks coming over to him. Renji's eyes light up as soon as he hears Rukia's voice; it's as if his prayers were answered.

"Rukia, can you explain this wave function problem?" He passes a worksheet towards Rukia's direction. Rukia looks at the problem for a couple of seconds before answering,

"You used Schrodinger's equation correctly but you have to rewrite it like this," Rukia writes it for him, "Then find when n equals 2 for all possible solutions." Rukia goes over the problem step by step until Renji slowly starts to understand.

"Thanks, Rukia!" Renji exclaims. By this time, Ichigo walks into the room and everyone immediately scrambles to their seats. He sets his cup of coffee on the desk and says,

"Good morning everybody, I hope you're ready for this test," Ichigo grins widely for everyone to see how happy he is,

"Are you sure we can't take this test next Tuesday?" A student whines.

"Don't you think that would be pushing it?" Ichigo laughs while he passes the papers one by one to each desk. Luckily, Rukia can see the clock from this angle; it was hard not having her wrist watch with her and not to mention she's short. She looks at the wall clock; in about minute she was going to have an hour and 30 minutes to complete this test. No pressure, she'll just have to plan accordingly to each problem, but then again Kurosaki wrote this test. Who knows what he has in store for her. Ichigo finally reaches Rukia's desk at the back,

"Good luck," he winks in the most charming way possible. She takes the test out of his hand and whispers,

"Thanks, but I won't need it." Ichigo just shrugs his shoulders and smiles carelessly as if it was her loss. Rukia takes her pencil and begins writing her name on top. For about an hour into the test, she reaches the last page. Rukia looks at the clock, she has 28 minutes to spare which isn't too bad. She glances at Ichigo who is asleep with legs stretched across his desk. His phone and frames are sprawled across his chest without a care. It's amazing how some people can sleep in an instant. It usually takes Rukia 30 minutes to an hour to fall asleep. His face looked so much better when he wasn't awake. Ichigo twitches his eyes and slowly starts to break his sleep with a yawn. With the sudden realization that she was watching him sleep, Rukia quickly switches back to focus on her exam. _Alright Rukia, only one problem left. Keep it together_! Rukia says to herself silently as she feels a light blush approaching her cheeks. Rukia analyses the problem and feels confused. She thought she had done this Schrodinger problem already. She flips back to page one and sees the similar problem she had done before then she goes back to the last problem. She double checks it and sees she missed the part where it had said at the bottom: _for hydrogen-like atoms_. A feeling of anxiousness approaches her; he said the exam wasn't going to have the application of Schrodinger equations to hydrogen atoms. What was she going to do? Kurosaki barely explained this material, so she didn't bother to study it. She looks at the clock; there are only 15 minutes left. She lets go of her clenched fists and tries to calm down; she can make it. She rewrites the equation again but this time replaced with the hydrogen atoms mentioned below. After 10 minutes of trying to remember atomic numbers, erasing and rewriting the equation several times, she finally got an answer she could agree on. She quickly double checks all of her answers for the remainder of the period.

"Alright hand in your tests," Ichigo calls out when time is over. Rukia takes a look at her final work before she stands up from her seat. She looks over at Renji who is still trying to finish the exam. The whole class was finished with the exam except for a few people here and there. When he collects the exam out of Rukia's hand, Ichigo smirks,

"I hope you didn't find the exam too hard." Rukia gives him her own smirk,

"Of course not; it was a piece of cake." _Well_ e _xcept for that stupid last problem_ …

"So if I grade it right now it shouldn't be a problem?" Ichigo's smirk grows wider. He takes out a red pen from his pocket and uncaps it. This catches Rukia off guard, she wasn't expecting him to just take out a red pen magically and start grading. But then Ichigo chuckles,

"Don't worry, I'm messing with you," he puts the red cap back on, "Don't be late for bio."

* * *

"I'm tellin you Rukia, I probably got a C," Renji says while sipping his decaf. They are both on their way to Renji's calc class.

"For how long did you study?" Rukia questions. Renji laughs,

"Oh come on, why do you gotta embarrass me like that?" Rukia raises an eyebrow at him. Renji sighs and mumbles,

"I pull an all-nighter." Rukia scoffs,

"Renji, do you even care about your classes?"

"What! Of course, I do. I had another exam for this class so it was either calc or physics. My calc grade isn't doing too well compared to my physics' and we can't all be gifted in the art of calculus like someone here," Renji explains while specifically looking at Rukia. Rukia laughs jovially,

"Well, I hope it was worth it." They reach Renji's math class and it's packed with students jumping over each other. A similar image to earlier in Rukia's physics class, except there were more students and possibly more chaos. Renji laughs,

"You see Rukia, I probably would have been in their sorry ass shoes if I didn't study like hell for this past week," Renji sits down on a random seat nearby and stretches his legs, " _So it was worth it_." Rukia rolls her eyes and leans against the wall.

"Mr. Abarai, no legs on the desk," a strict voice addresses Renji. Rukia sees a slender man in his mid-twenties with straight chin length black hair combed to his sides and rectangular glasses. She could have sworn she's seen him somewhere before.

"Sorry Mr. Ishida," Renji says while taking his legs down. Uryu shakes his head,

"I'm guessing you actually studied for this test since you are taking it easy." Renji scratches his head and smiles to himself,

"Definitely, I've been studying day and night." Uryu smiles warmly,

"Excellent, then I'll be expecting some good results." Renji nods his head and Uryu turns to notice Rukia leaning by the nearby wall. _Isn't that the girl who was with Kurosaki_? He questions to himself.

"Mr. Ishida! I need help on this problem here!" A student cries for help. Uryu snaps out of his thoughts to help the student. As soon as he's gone Rukia asks Renji,

"That was your calc professor?"

"Yeah, he's just like Kurosaki, starting college off young. His class makes me snore but he's a really good guy," Renji yawns. _So that's where I've seen him before, at the office_ , Rukia recalls.

"Alright Renji, I'll be leaving now. Try not to lose on this test," Rukia jokes. Renji chuckles,

"Don't worry; I'll kick its ass!" _His determination doesn't fall short_ , Rukia thinks as she exits the room.

* * *

As the day winds down, the evening sun pouring into the room makes Rukia feel relaxed as she listens to Ichigo speak passionately about ribosomes. When he lectures in bio, he's more serious. It's probably because half the class isn't swooning over him. Ichigo finishes his power point slide and notices the time on the clock.

"Alright guys we'll talk exam on Tuesday; enjoy the rest of your evening," Ichigo says before the bell rings. Rukia closes her eyes and feels the warmth of the sun against her cheek; she wishes this feeling lasted forever. It was a silly thing to wish for she thought. In reality, nothing lasts forever; everything disappears one way or another. Rukia opens her eyes and lets out a yawn as she packs her items slowly into her bag. These last few days were tiring; no food, no sleep, and lots of stress. That is a lot to eat out of a person. Rukia gets up and makes her way down the aisle feeling a bit sleepy.

"Rukia?" Ichigo calls out to her. All of a sudden she is awake and suddenly catches her feet off balance. He immediately grabs her back to keep her steady while Rukia grabs his shoulders; she can feel the veins pulsating under its muscle. She breathes again, in short, quiet breaths. Ichigo can hear her heart beat skipping one beat after the other excitedly. He stares at her intently and says,

"What's going on?" Rukia whispers,

"I don't know what you mean." He sets her down on a nearby desk.

"This isn't the first time you've done this; you have been dozing every other day in this class," Ichigo puts a hand to his forehead and then says slowly, "Are you tired or something? Stressed out?" _Yes, I'm stressed; I'm stressed out over you and the whole world_ , Rukia says in her mind. She wishes she can yell it out loud, on the top of her lungs, just so everyone can hear how exhausted she is. Almost every day some new problem surfaces into her life; every day since she's met him. She looks back at Ichigo and says in a sarcastic tone,

"Even if I was stressed shouldn't that make you happy? I thought you loved seeing me squirm." Ichigo narrows his eyes and responds in a cold tone,

" _Forget_ I said anything. I know you are perfectly fine enough to mock someone's concern over you." _Did I go too far_? Rukia thinks as she sees the muscles inside his jaw clench. He backs up and drinks her in for one last time before turning his back silently towards the door.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello once again people, I am back with the 6th chapter. I think this might be my longest chapter so far in this fic, so I'm pretty proud of it. In this contains a favorite Agatha Christie quote (see if you can find it), which I think fits nicely in the theme of the fic. Like always, thank you for the reviews, faves and follows.**

* * *

With a splash of cold water to the face, Ichigo looks up to the bathroom mirror. Water dripping from his face, he lifts his chin and examines the straight edge of his jaw from different angles. He then moves his hand gently across the curve of his cheekbones on each side. Finally, his hands stop around his eyes. Growing up, people would say that he resembled his father strongly. They weren't wrong; he cited most features came from his father, but his eyes. He draws wide circles around his eyes, a reminder of what his mother left behind. He closes them briefly, and he is again reminded of her beauty. It was the way she moved, the warmth of her hand, and her carefree smile.

" _Ichigo_ ," Her voice brings back memories in his mind. She was constantly smiling, even to the point of her death.

" _Don't leave me_ …" Ichigo narrows himself, no longer being able to stare at his reflection. He hears vibration coming from his back pocket, and looks to see Uryu calling,

"Uryu," Ichigo says.

"Kurosaki, where are you?" Uryu questions him. Ichigo leans back against his sink and responds,

"I'm at home; I left early today." Uryu sighs through the phone,

"You could have at least told me, and then Chad and I wouldn't look like complete idiots waiting for you by the restaurant."

"I'm sorry, I know I should have called you in advance, but I," Ichigo leaves a moment of silence, struggling to find the right words; "...I'm not feeling well today."

"Why? What happened?" Uryu asks, expressing genuine concern.

"Nothing, I'm just having one of _those_ days."

"Oh… I see. I will leave you alone then. Try not to drink too much," Uryu warns beforehand. A small chuckle escapes from Ichigo as he momentarily closes his eyes,

"No promises." With that, the phone is cut. He walks to his room, opens all of the curtains and proceeds to close all of the lights. He lies down in bed and watches the skyscrapers slowly light after the other against the dark, blue sky. Sure living in the city has its downs, such as traffic and noise, but one guarantee that surpasses everything is the feeling of never being alone. He can live in the suburbs or maybe even the countryside, but being surrounded by loneliness in the form of darkness and quiet. It doesn't sound attractive at all. He pours himself a glass and continues to watch the night unfold.

* * *

Rukia opens the door and walks inside the huge mansion. _It feels so cold in here_ , Rukia thinks to herself drearily. Her hands shiver as she unties each shoelace from her white converse. Walking down the hallway, Rangiku and Momo chatter with each other while carrying a load of laundry.

"Momo, did you catch that new episode of the Vampire Journals?" Momo widens her eyes and says,

"No, I thought it wasn't going to air until next week?" Rangiku laughs excitedly,

"No, you're thinking about the Real Housewives of Tokyo. Oooh Momo! You have to see it, it was soo scandalous." Momo blushes red,

"Rangiku, please keep it down, what if Nanao san catches us?" Rangiku makes a pfft sound and says,

"I'm not scared; besides, I have this theory that Nanao is a very avid fan of the show. One time while I was delivering-" Momo catches a glimpse of Rukia out of the corner of her eye and interrupts Rangiku's story.

"Rangiku, there's Ms. Kuchiki sama." Rangiku sees Rukia walking slowly towards the staircase. She looks uncomposed from her slumped posture to her out of placed hair. Nonetheless, the two maids immediately approach her,

"Rukia, how did the exam go?"

"I'm sure it wasn't difficult for her,"

"Still though Momo, what if it was Rukia's biggest challenge?" Rukia looks at the two maids, wearingly. They look blurry as if their mere image might disappear any minute. Rukia closes her eyes, wanting to shut herself out of the world. Rangiku and Momo both crouch to her side in concern,

"What's wrong Rukia?" Rukia shakes her head in great pain and mumbles,

"I feel..." Feeling the need to let go, Rukia faints to the floor. Momo gasping, asks,

"Ms. Kuchiki sama, are you okay?" There's no reply, Rangiku feels puts a palm to her forehead,

"She's burning up; let's bring her to the room, fast." Momo nods furiously and they both help her to the bedroom. Rukia struggles to get quickly under the covers as she feels cold shivers approaching from each end of her body.

"I'll call Nanao san while you get the thermometer," Momo says to Rangiku. Rangiku doesn't do anything more but follow Momo's orders. Rukia fights to stay awake, but after a short while, it's no use. As soon as Nanao is done taking her temperature, Rukia passes out before taking the pill.

 _"Hisana, Hisana!" Rukia shakes her sister's arm. Hisana finally looks at Rukia with a knowing smile,_

 _"Yes, Rukia?" Rukia's face lights up,_

 _"Let's go outside and look at the pretty stars." Hisana laughs and musses Rukia's wild raven hair,_

 _"Are you sure? What if we get caught?" Hisana whispers purposely. Rukia holds on to Hisana's hand bravely,_

 _"Don't worry; we'll protect each other at all costs!" Hisana tilts her head from side to side, contemplating about it and then says,_

 _"Sounds like a plan." The two of them sprout out of bed and carefully sneak without disturbing anybody else. Rukia shivers as the coldness of the wooden floor seep through her feet. Rukia looks down on her pair of thin socks. They were ratty and had holes around the sole area, but they were her only pair._

 _"Here take these Rukia," Hisana gives her socks to Rukia. Rukia, surprised, says,_

 _"I can't Hisana. What about you?" She looks down on Hisana's bare feet. Hisana just smiles and replaces Rukia's ratty socks with her own. Rukia's socks barely reach up to the heels of her feet._

 _"If you're warm then I'm warm." Hisana pats Rukia's head gently. Rukia thanks her and gives her a quick hug. She looks down on her new socks; they were dark red and reached right up to her knee. The two of them finally escape outside where they are surrounded by stars. Everywhere, stars are scattered across the night sky, making them seem like a million different light bulbs. Even the moon shares the night sky with its modest crescent phase. It all seems beautiful; a scene so surreal._

 _"I am so happy," Rukia laughs as she spreads her arms wide in a flying motion. Hisana watches her and giggles,_

 _"Hey Rukia come here, I have something that will make you even happier," Hisana motions Rukia to come. Rukia thinking what else could possibly make her happier, runs to Hisana with excitement. Hisana crouches down on one foot to get on Rukia's level, "Okay, I'll give it to you, but you have to close your eyes first," Hisana continues. Rukia nods her head and immediately shuts her eyes. After a few seconds, Rukia hurryingly says,_

 _"Can I open them?" There is silence, "Hisana?" Rukia, after a few more seconds opens her eyes to find there is no Hisana. Looking in all directions, Rukia calls out repeatedly, "Hisana! Hisana! Hisana! Hisana!" She is no longer feeling cold, her temperature is warm; in fact, she is blazing with sweat. Rukia runs, but there is nobody to be seen. Suddenly, the stars look less and less bright. "Hisana! Don't leave me behind!" She starts to cry, "Please Hisana, don't leave me." Tears are running all over her face, but Rukia yells from the top of her throat, "Hisana! Hisana!" Everything fades to black…_ Rukia wakes up with one swift motion. Sweat is plastered all over her body and clothes. She puts a hand to her chest and feels her heart beating irrationally. What sort of nightmare was that? Dreaming about Hisana...oh God, how long has it been? Those were the worst of her nightmares. Hisana…she was a memory buried deep inside Rukia's mind. Something if remembered long enough, leads to only madness. She turns on the bedside lamp and it admits dim light into the quiet room.

"I see you don't give up," Ichigo says with a drawl. Rukia shrieks to see Ichigo sitting on the edge of the bed, long legs stretched to the floor casually. What's even more bizarre is that he's dressed in a long, black robe.

"Kurosaki, what are you doing here?" Rukia asks wildly as she hastily pulls the covers around her. Instead, Ichigo gives her a low smirk and moves closer to her. His eyes are heavy with a strange desire to them, something of uncontrolled impulse. Rukia shifts away from him, until her head collides with the headboard, "I asked you, what do you think you're-?" He interrupts her by pulling the covers away from her grasp; the cool air immediately leaves her relieved from the overbearing heat. For the pure sake of modesty, Rukia reaches for the covers which are nearly touching the floor. But, Ichigo uses one hand to shove her back roughly against the headboard. Rukia does nothing more than to widen her eyes under his pressure. He drops his lips to the shell of her ear and murmurs,

"Why are you always so damn persistent?" Rukia feels a heated blush overtake her pale cheeks. To be fair, that was supposed to be her line. Keeping her at bay with one hand, he moves the other to the top of her jacket's zipper. Ichigo takes his slow, focused time to unzip her jacket. While, Rukia has an unnerving time keeping track of how many minutes have passed. Then, with one practiced motion, he wrangles the jacket out of its zipper and throws it on the floor. Out of her clammy jacket and exposed in her black tank, she feels the cold like a thousand splinters melting the rest of the heat away. It feels good, in some ways unexpected. Ichigo lightly drums his fingers on the slope of her shoulder, playing with the ends of her soft ebony hair. Rukia observes Ichigo's focused eyes. She could almost describe them as two pairs of raw amber cut into an almond shape. When the light is shown on them, it intensifies the color and most of his gaze. She addresses Ichigo again with more caution,

"I don't understand. Why are you here?" Ichigo is so engrossed in her hair that it takes him a moment to look up to Rukia's concerned eyes. He brings his lips close to her neck, in the spot near her radiating pulse. His brightly orange hair brushes the edge of her jaw as his scent becomes overpowering. She feels the edges of his mouth forming into grin; he says in the most ominous tone,

" _Few of us are what we seem_." Rukia shrieks as she flies immediately out of her dream.

"What the hell was that?" She feels the side of her neck, chest, and even her shoulder. Her eyes flash to the wall clock, 8:04 in the night. She finds the covers are halfway down the floor along with her jacket thrown across. She must have flung everything after feeling buried with layers of sweat. She pushes her plastered hair back from her forehead and with one foot on the wooden floor, she hears the door open. She quickly lies back down on her bed and pulls the covers over her body.

"I see you are awake Rukia, how do you feel?" Byakuya says as he pulls an armchair closer to the bed. Rukia pulls down the covers so he can only see her face.

"I feel a little better than before Nii sama," Rukia says quietly while she shifts to an upright position. Byakuya nods to himself in deep thought and then says,

"First, take your medicine," he hands her a pill from the bottle of aspirin on her nightstand and proceeds to hand her the glass of water. She stares at Byakuya for a brief second; he probably left early from work because he still has his black woolen coat on. His acute gray eyes are serious and underneath are purple rings that adorn the image of restless and hard working. She could only imagine how much of his precious time she may have wasted by making him even more worried. She takes the pill from his hand and chugs it down with the water.

"Thank you Nii sama," Rukia says while bowing slightly. He takes the glass of water and places it on the nightstand.

"What is your plan now?" Byakuya asks solemnly, Rukia gives him a confused look and asks,

"I don't understand?" Byakuya looks her straight in the eye and says,

"I presume you have not started any preparation for tomorrow's classes?" She sighs, knowing how this will turn out.

"No, I have not."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Of course, Byakuya's mindset automatically thinks to her education. Sometimes, she wondered if he ever considered her as a real person. She shakes her head slowly. The same old process refutes that specific argument all the time. As all Rukia has to do is to look to every corner of this extravagant room or notice the branded clothes that she wears. But this time, she looks to her socks. They were new, white and had no holes in them. She draws in a deep breath; _no_ , he took chances that many were afraid to take. She gets up slowly from the bed and says,

"I will do my best…" Turning her back away from her brother, she heads to the bathroom.

"Rukia, are you sure you're feeling okay?" Rangiku asks while giving her a towel. Rukia takes the towel and dries her face.

"I only have a slight fever thanks to both of your healing powers." Momo and Rangiku glance at each other with disbelief. "Really, I'll be fine it's only a few hours. Besides, I get to rest for the weekend."

"Rukia, haven't you heard of something called 'sick days'," Rangiku exaggerates. Momo puts a hand on Rukia's shoulder,

"I agree with Rangiku, Ms. Kuchiki sama you should take the day off." Rukia smiles at Rangiku and Momo.

"I'm afraid that won't do, I have to prove just how willing I am to go for it. I know you guys are worried and I thank you for taking care of me like always. But, I can't give up just yet, my future depends on it," Rukia says in a bittersweet tone. Rangiku gives her a big bear hug and sobs,

"Oh Ms. Rukia when you say such heartfelt words, it makes me wanna cry." Rukia is being barricaded in Rangiku's wholesome chest. "Don't just stand there Momo, you come in too!" Soon, Momo is dragged in the fierce group hug and they all end up pulling away, laughing with each other. "Alright, let's get you all prettified!"

"'Prettified'?" Momo ponders on Rangiku's strange vocabulary. Rukia rolls her eyes and follows Rangiku to the closet. After the next half hour of dressing up Rukia, they all head downstairs to the kitchen. Nanao is talking to one of the maids when Rukia arrives. She breaks conversation to quickly talk with Rukia,

"Good morning Ms. Kuchiki, how are you feeling?" Rukia sits on one of the bar stools and says,

"I feel fine, only a little feverish." Nanao nods her head, then turns to the maids, telling them something along lines of "we will talk about this later" and dismisses them. Nanao sits on the barstool next to Rukia and says softly,

"Are you sure you will be able to handle going through the whole day. I don't doubt your strength, but still, you should take precaution." Rukia sighs and responds,

"The past few days, I was staying up most of the night immersed in studying for my classes. I didn't have time to eat that much nor sleep. I felt like it was killing me on the inside, to be honest. But I won't stop from there; I will feel like I have admitted defeat if I can't get through this last day. Right now, I'm not trying to hit my limit." Nanao seems dumbfounded on Rukia's willingness to push forward. _She really doesn't like to give up_ , Nanao reflects as she looks onto Rukia,

"I will trust that you can withstand the day, but please take some medicine before you leave, it will make me feel better," Nanao says while handing her the aspirin. Rukia laughs and takes the pill from her hands.

* * *

Ichigo wakes up to the sun flowing inside to every tiny corner of the room. He groans and rubs his face, getting up slowly. He checks his phone, two missed phone calls from his dad. Two text messages from Karin and also his dad. Thank goodness he put his phone on silent. He checks Karin's message first,

Ichi nii! You better get us something extra special this year. Now that you're making all that dough, bring us some rich designer swag or we demand at least 200 in cash for both of us. Don't forget that idiot.

Ichigo rolls his eyes at the word "swag" and makes a mental reminder to go to the mall today. He reads the other text message from his dad,

IChigO! I HAte it when y OU MAKE ME TEXT! Wha t happened to good old fashioned CALLING?! I WAnt to remind you that TOMORROW IS THE PARTY! COME EARLY at 12:30 P.M. SHARP! IF Y ou EVEN COME A MINUTE LATE I WILL BEAT YOUR AS$ SO HARD YOU WILL COME BACK CRYING TO ME! UNDERSTAND!

Ichigo raises an eyebrow in disgust; he doesn't even bother reading all of the useless muscle emojis at the end. He makes another reminder to come extra early tomorrow and tosses his phone aside. He starts the hot water running for the shower and undresses down to nothing. After around 10 minutes, he comes out, wraps the towel around his waist and begins rummaging through his closet. Almost everything he's looking for is either tossed somewhere on the floor or in the laundry. Come to think of it, his whole closet is a mess. He finally settles on a blue cable knit sweater and some brown khakis. He particularly doesn't need to wear glasses but puts them on anyway because he likes the way they look. Lightly spraying cologne around him, he's out the door with his wallet and keys. He arrives at the mall after pit stopping to get some coffee and quick breakfast. He parks his black convertible in the parking lot and puts the keys in his right pocket. He walks through the whole bustle and hustle of the mall's afternoon atmosphere. Everyone must be out on a nice day like this. The weather is significantly warmer than it was yesterday, a good sign because summer would soon be right around the corner. Maybe, he can finally quit his bitching about how cold the weather gets even in early May. A whole array of stores are lined up from one end to the other which brings Ichigo to endless possibilities,

"What the hell should I even get them?" Ichigo questions himself as he doesn't have the slightest clue what girls like Karin and Yuzu are interested in. He walks past some young girls probably in their late teens/early twenties carrying big shopping bags with the label "New York" on them. He did recall them saying something about designer… _I know I'm probably gonna regret this_ , he thinks as he stops one of them,

"Excuse me, I don't wanna interrupt you, but what place did you get those bags that you're carrying from?" Hopefully, he didn't come off as being too creepy. The girl blushes, clearly taken aback from Ichigo's appearance and stutters,

"Oh.. I… go-t them from k-Kale s-Spode." _Is that where every girl wants to shop nowadays?_ He turns back to the girl,

"Would you mind telling me where the store is?" The girl widens her brown eyes, but Ichigo quickly adds, "It's for my sisters, their birthday party is tomorrow and I suck at giving girls presents." The girl and her friends laugh well heartedly, finally she says,

"That's okay, just go straight, turn right when you see some stairs, climb them, and you'll find it directly in front of you." Ichigo smiles at her as if she just saved his life,

"Thank you very much, have a nice day," he acknowledges the girl and her friends. Once he's away from sight, one of her friends immediately gossips,

"Did you see how freaking hot he was, I'm so jealous of you Orihime." Orihime blushes crimson,

"He just asked me a question," she flusters. Her other friend snorts in disagreement,

"I swear every male specimen gravitates towards you, at least he was looking at your eyes." Orihime slurps her ice cold coffee nervously,

"You don't think I was too weird when talking to him." The two friends glance at each other in silent agreement. As soon he arrives, Ichigo scans the store for anything that will catch his eye, but the problem is there are so many items to choose from. Colorful purses on this end lined up in neat rows while polka dotted coats and dresses on the other. The store itself had a rich, lively atmosphere with its polished black and white striped floors, dandelion-like chandeliers and even neon signs that said, "Live Colorfully." Clearly, they were doing a good job of attracting customers. Finally, after five minutes of giving up, Ichigo gets approached by a sales clerk who helps him easily find the perfect gift.

"Thanks," Ichigo says to the sales clerk before going up to ring the items. He goes up to register and the lady while packing the items in tissue paper, compliments,

"These are wonderful. I'm sure your girlfriend will love them." Ichigo looks up to the lady who looks to be a petite, kind woman in her early 60s and quickly corrects her,

"No, those are for my sisters. I don't have a girlfriend." The lady widens her eyes through her chain glasses,

"With that handsome face, that's hard to believe." He laughs and refutes,

"Yeah, I'm kind out of the dating scene; I guess I never really had time to do it." The lady smiles and shakes her head,

"Here is your total," a generous number is shown on the small screen. Ichigo sighs, taking out his credit card out of his leather wallet. Hopefully, he is a shoo-in for big brother of the year award in exchange for this. He signs the receipt but at the last minute the lady asks,

"I'm sorry I didn't mention this before, but would you be interested in fine key chains to go along with your purchase?" She shows him a stand of key chains ranging from different sizes and designs on the side of the purchase counter. Ichigo initially says no, but then notices one particular key chain that catches his eye.

"What about that rabbit key chain?" The lady takes out the keychain to show him.

"This is our partnership with the company Gikon, specifically, one of their most famous mascots, Chappy." _Chappy_? Ichigo thinks, _I've definitely seen it somewhere, but where exactly_? "These would look great with purses, totes, _backpacks_ -" Ichigo's eyes flicker with recognition, _of course on Rukia's backpack_. It was hard not to miss, considering the size of it. He wonders…

"How much is it?" The lady rings it and another generous price shows up on screen…"Are you kidding me? It's just a keychain," Ichigo reasons. He surely had something formulating in his mind but was not desperate enough to spend that much for it. There were damn bills to pay. The lady laughs and adjusts her glasses,

"I'm sorry; I don't make the price decisions. If you're interested in it that badly maybe try online or visiting the store itself, you won't get the same design, but you can find something similar."

"Is this store in the mall by chance?" The lady looks both ways before leaning close and whispering,

"It's actually one level below this store." Ichigo nods his head and picks up the bags,

"Alright, well thank you for the help, I'll see how things go," Ichigo says before bidding farewell to the lady.

"You're quite welcome handsome." A few hours were wasted on marveling around the rest of the mall: picking up supplies for the party, having a food court break. By the end of it all, Ichigo was exhausted. It would be likely to finish up and finally head home, as he was nearing the exit. He had more than a half exams to grade and his legs were killing him from all this walking and carrying. He does not need to go to that ridiculous store that Rukia liked so much. Even if it involved messing with her for a little while… A slight pause later, Ichigo runs all the way back into the mall. He approaches the storefront and is caught off guard of how childish the store is. Kids running here and there while their mothers chase after them, happy tunes playing in the background mixed in with the cries of young children finding themselves lost without their parents, it was chaotic. Of course, even if they sold cartoonish merchandise, he was half expecting the taste to be somewhat dark like Rukia. Maybe…

"Hello sir, do you need some assistance?" A store clerk asks him with a cheery voice. Ichigo comes out of his thoughts and turns to the store clerk,

"Oh um… I don't know."

"Well you seemed like you were lost, you've been staring at our store blankly for at least five minutes." God, he must have looked like a complete idiot standing here for so long. Well, it was either facing this awkwardness or Rukia; now he had no choice to go along with the plan,

"Actually there was something you could help me with."


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello everyone! I know it's been a long time, but sure enough here I am. I'm glad to present you all with the 7th chapter, enjoy. As much I liked writing this chapter, I also very much appreciate all the reviews, faves, and follows.**

* * *

"What is love?" Professor Kyoraku questions his class. Rukia groans and puts her forehead flat on the desk. It was another class discussion where every other Friday, Kyoraku would lead the class in deep, poetic conversations in English. They had just finished discoursing about the particular social classes of today's society. The discussions usually start off as interesting, but then it gradually becomes tedious to follow through (especially in a language class). He was an excellent professor no doubt, but was this really necessary? When she asked this question, he just chuckled and said, "It builds actual practice rather than spending time with boring old textbooks." Kyoraku was described as a carefree spirit, handling his class in most unconventional methods. He would occasionally take a nap whenever there was a small quiz; mind that he somehow knew if someone even attempted to cheat. Sometimes, he would share an old poem and occasionally complained that his literature class never let him finish the poem because of their frequent interruption of questions. His appearance matched his personality, Rukia noted upon getting to know him better. His masculine features seemed to play well with what he usually wore: a pink floral kimono draped over his suit and an old straw hat. He is right now sprawled across the big cherry wood desk, treating it as if it was a mattress. After a few moments of silence, Kyoraku sighs slowly and puts his huge straw hat to the side. "Maybe I should begin with this: how does love feel like?" Finally, some students in the front row start raising their hand. "Marin." Rukia rolls her eyes as Kyoraku calls on the class "Smart Aleck".

"Love fills us with desire. It causes us to attract or feel attraction towards someone or something." Kyoraku smiles amusingly and picks on the eager person to the right of Marin.

"But excess desire can lead to obsession. How would that be classified as love?" The student questions the assertive girl. She faces him and answers back directly,

"No, desire is the sense that we yearn for something wishful to take place and itself classifies as a symptom of love. Obsession is the state where we are driven to become addicted to someone or something to an unhealthy level. The feeling of being desired in a mutual relationship is normal, feeling obsessed is not." Silence is in the air as Marin once again stuns everyone with her amazing pronunciation and fancy vocabulary.

"Are you honestly surprised?" Rukia utters quietly in a bored tone. She was infamous for showcasing her opinion on a pedestal. The self-proclaimed sophomore Psych major knew just how to keep her pride. In a way, she kind of reminded Rukia of Byakuya, the need to be forthright in her opinion even if it means shutting people down for it. Someone from the middle row takes a pike at her,

"But there are also different types of love: romantic, familial, platonic, and etc. Desire is a suggestive word to be used around so carelessly." Marin smirks and clears her throat almost too loudly,

"That's all media. Most people characterize desire in a relationship as a romantic. Desire can occur in all forms of love and varies on the level of emotion one holds. It's quite often disregarded as lust." The class is back to silence once again. A few defeated groans are heard across the room. Pretty soon Kyoraku would end the heinous discussion with a sigh and spare everyone's lives on the chopping block. He puts his old straw hat back on and begins to walk in front of the room.

"If that is all then-"

"I disagree to some extent about your desire argument." Kyoraku is caught off guard as he looks to find Rukia's solid eyes on the Smart Aleck. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, Professor Kyoraku, but I want to say this," Kyoraku gives her an easy nod, "You can't solely dictate that having the feeling desire is completely natural in every loving relationship. Everyone has different desires; some are classified as sweet and others rotten, so tell me where do rotten desires come in love? As long as we are going with the idea that love is a good phenomenon then rotten desire might as well be related to the notion of obsession you touched upon earlier." Rukia shakes her head as if she was casting away a deep thought in her mind, "Your argument does not specify which type of desire you keep mentioning. One cannot simply see one side and turn a blind eye towards the other. " Rukia's voice causes a leeway for the tension to release; the silence is soon broken into scattering whispers. Marin creeps a hand to touch her red hot cheeks. _Was this how humiliation felt?_ The Smart Aleck begins to protest, but Kyoraku raises his hand and says,

"That's quite enough for today. Lots of insightful remarks were shared; I can only grasp that as a sign of progress. Catch some warm sun this weekend and hopefully, I will see you all on Monday. Peace." Marin gets up and after a long menacing glance up at Rukia, she quietly leaves the room. Meanwhile, the rest of the class floods out the room, laughing and gossiping.

"Finally the mold broke," a student says to her friend as she walks with him to the door. He throws back his head in laughter and sneers,

"Yeah, it was about damn time that bitch learned her lesson." Upon saying the last sentence they both stumble onto a middle aged lady. She had a pleasant oval face shape and the color of her skin matching that of a skinned almond. Her thick black hair was braided around the curve of her neck falling onto the center of her chest. Her deep blue eyes were set with an effect of maturity and wisdom. Despite her good natured looks, her presence held high authority.

"Professor Unohana!" They both bow hastily at the same time. Unohana smiles warmly and dismisses them. Her friend looks back at Unohana's figure before whispering,

"You think she heard me?"

" _She hears everything_." Rukia observes Kyoraku and then rechecks the reminder on her phone. She needed to talk to him after class about rescheduling a meeting for a later date. Noticing the famous Professor Unohana was present as well, she deemed it rude to interrupt them. Hopefully, their conversation ends soon, she was starting to feel queasy again. Kyoraku with a sly grin on his face looks onto Unohana's approaching figure and spreads his arms wide,

"Ah, Professor Unohana, welcome! It's not like you to visit me alone like this, today must be my lucky day." Unohana tilts her head and smiles with her eyes crinkling slightly,

"Kyoraku san, do you remember the last time you said something like that and what happened immediately after? Should I remind you?" Kyoraku laughs out loud while slowly backing up an inch,

"I was just teasing as usual. In all dead seriousness, what brings you around here so suddenly?" Unohana tenses her features slightly,

"I seem to be running into a problem. An unfavorable number of our senior theses and research dissertations have been stolen or either completely erased from our computer databases."

"Hmm?" Kyoraku mentions her to continue,

"At first, I thought it had only been me, but then Kurotsuchi san also addressed me of his situation. From there we discovered there were more fatal incidents particularly in almost all the science departments," Unohana states in a grave tone. _Almost all the science departments... that would mean Kurosaki quite possibly be affected by this attack..._ Rukia contemplates. Kyoraku scratches his faint beard and responds after a few seconds of thought,

"I haven't experienced any trouble on my end. Have you spoken to Mr. Yamamoto about it?" Unohana puts a distressed hand on her forehead and sighs,

"He said he will look into it. I am not sure when that will be, but I urged him to do it as quickly as possible." Kyoraku shakes his head and makes a tsk sound,

"He seems to be occupied as ever since we canceled the April 14th date …" Rukia's eyes widen at the mention of the date. April 14th was the original date of the first semester. From what she can remember, Aizen had mentioned there was some problem with the school's computer system that caused the reschedule. When the problem breached was unknown to her. Unohana's voice drops to a quiet volume that Rukia can barely make out,

"You don't think the one who is responsible for the school's system delay is related to these recent events?" A moment of deep silence overtakes them. Rukia still stands by her seat, almost invisible to the two professors. From the way this conversation was heading, she was sure it wasn't meant for her ears to listen in. It felt like eavesdropping, but it was important to notify Kyoraku the canceled news about their appointment. She knew he rarely checked his email, so she was essentially stuck in traffic. _I guess it's only befitting I am repaid with school staff gossip_ , Rukia says sarcastically in her mind. Kyoraku speaks in a similar low tone,

"Going off the damage that was done," on the edge of her seat, Rukia prays she was four rows closer to hear this clearly, "It is…"

"Rukia, I was really impressed by your argument!" A voice blocks out Kyoraku's answer. Rukia turns her head a full 180, slowly, to find a vaguely familiar classmate,

"Oh! Um… thank you so much," Rukia replies awkwardly. _Where did she come from?_

"Orihime, you can call me Orihime," she smiles, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "The way you spoke was so eloquent, I wish I had the ability to talk like that. Your argument made sense and altogether it was an awe inspiring moment." Her brown eyes widen as she met with Rukia's silence, "I don't mean talk exactly like you, but with that sort of confidence. I'm sorry if that came across as weird," Orihime frantically apologizes. Rukia giggles a bit unsure; she couldn't quite understand why Orihime felt so impressed, all she did was correct Marin's argument.

"No it's fine, I had the sudden urge to step in and say something. I usually don't participate in conversations, but her over the top arguments were getting out of hand," Rukia states honestly.

"I completely agree, that's why when you spoke it felt like the cold tension melted," Orihime says earnestly. Rukia widens her eyes at Orihime's compliment.

"Thank you, no one has ever said that to me," Rukia says a bit taken aback, but nonetheless she smiles, "How did you know I was still in here?" Orihime blushes and points to her seat which was five spots away from Rukia's right.

"Oh, I wasn't waiting for you or anything like that. I left my discussion notebook behind and saw that you were still here. So I took it as an opportunity to thank you personally." Sitting in close proximity, It was funny she didn't notice Orihime before. The girl had long hair, the color of a burnt orange, skinny but curvaceous body and pretty heart shaped face. She had to be at least every man's definition of hot. However, she gave a vibe that wasn't wicked or your average man stealer. Her atmosphere felt a bit naive and kind.

"I waiting for Professor Kyoraku to finish speaking with Professor Unohana," Rukia says with a sigh of disappointment.

"It looks to me like they have finished their conversation," Orihime mentions to Rukia.

"What," Rukia's eyes follow right where Kyoraku is bidding goodbye to Unohana in dramatic fashion, "Unbelievable," she says the last part to herself.

"I guess that's my cue to leave. I enjoyed talking to you Rukia, hopefully, we see each other on Monday," Orihime says as she packs her notebook into her colorful tote bag.

"Definitely, see you on Monday," Rukia replies, giving a small wave back to Orihime's parting figure. It was strange, she felt as if only a second passed since she met Orihime. The room grew quiet again, except for the sound of shuffling of papers created by Kyoraku. He seems like his usual calm self, _it's as if nothing ever happened_ , Rukia thought to herself. A part of her wanted to hear what Kyoraku was about to say, but then again it wasn't in her place to listen to their conversation. She had her own business to take care of; there was no need to take in other useless drama.

* * *

Of all things Ichigo could be doing on a Saturday night, this was beyond boring. Sure there were people if you counted a double dozen of pubescent teens and some folks from the neighborhood. Ichigo checks the time on his phone and immediately squints his eyes. It was Karin's idea of dimming the lights all the way down, something about fitting with the high school party aesthetic. Ichigo lowers the brightness and sees the time, 8:24 p.m. Well, at least it's not grading papers. Ichigo puts his phone back into his pocket and loosely closes his eyes as he settles deep into the sofa.

"That's your brother?"

"The one and only."

"Karin! Don't say it like that," Yuzu scolds her sister lightly. Karin rolls her eyes,

"What, it's not like I'm wrong. The dude looks like a literal couch potato."

"I think he looks cute."

"Eww Aki, don't make me sick before the cake comes out," Karin makes a disgusted face. Their friend ignores her sarcastic statement while Yuzu giggles.

"You know he gets most of his looks from his handsome father," a deep and boisterous voice interrupts them. Karin and Yuzu exchange a look that spells out, " _oh here we go again_." Aki observes Isshin's features and then looks back at Ichigo.

"I can definitely see the resemblance, but I'm guessing his orange hair comes from his mother huh?" Isshin raises his eyes ever so slightly, but he answers the question with an easy tone,

"Oh well, his mother had more of a brown undertone to her hair." Karin and Yuzu tense in response. They could tell their father was taken aback by the sudden question. He was a bit tamed and quiet from his usual spunky mood. "His eyes, however, match hers completely," he smiles grimly. Yuzu looks towards Karin and she gives her a nod.

"Dad, I think the cake should be coming any minute, we'll head near the door," Yuzu says as she drags Karin and Aki. Isshin gives her thumbs up,

"Alright Honey, I'll be right there." Yuzu and Karin take one long look back at their father, hoping he'll return back to his party animal self in moments. Isshin walks towards Ichigo's sleeping form on the couch. The buzz of the party fails to drown out any feeling of remorse. "I know, they've grown up way too damn fast," Isshin says looking up at the smiling portrait of his wife near Ichigo's head. Isshin emits a short breath and turns his gaze on Ichigo, _you've protected him well._ He shakes his head deciding it's time to move on. Sleeping at a party? Unacceptable. He removes his hands out of his pockets and begins cracking his knuckles. 1…2…3…

"ICHIGOOOO!" Isshin raises the couch with his bare hands and lets it fall with a loud _thud_. Ichigo recoils almost immediately, but his surprise dies out to see Isshin's smug face.

"What the hell Old Man?" Isshin crosses his arms together,

"Don't use language with me Ichigo, you are the one at fault for sleeping on a celebration like this," Isshin blames, closing in on Ichigo's personal space. Ichigo glares at his father and slowly rakes a hand through his short orange hair,

"I wasn't planning on sleeping for the whole party for your info. Besides, I don't have anyone to talk to."

"You don't have anyone to talk to? There are people all around," Isshin was oblivious to Ichigo's excuse. Ichigo sighs and pulls on his comfy beige cardigan before getting up,

"Still doesn't make it my kind of party." _How in the world that boy is supposed to get a woman with that kind of attitude?_ The older man thinks as he saunters off to find his girls.

Ichigo managed to get through the night. Three slices of chocolate cake were enough to fuel him to stay awake and socialize with a few people. It wasn't complete torture; surprisingly he spotted some of his old high school friends, which of whom still lived around the area.

"So what they call you _Professor Kurosaki_?" One of his old friends jokes.

"It's actually a split between that and Mr. Kurosaki. But hey it beats having a name tag attached to your shirt and saying, 'Would you like fries with that'. Wouldn't you agree Keigo?" Ichigo smoothly counters. Keigo shoots up; ready to tackle Ichigo to the ground, but a hand stops him in his tracks.

"Mr. Asano, it isn't very mature to tackle someone at a social gathering. I think we should all leave the mocking of one's job aside." Keigo lets out a big huff and sits back down on the leather sofa.

"Still cool as a cucumber huh Mizuiro," Ichigo says with a wide smile.

"I try to be whenever I'm with Mr. Asano," Mizuiro points a thumb at Keigo and laughs, "But Ichigo, working at _Karakura University_ , I'm quite impressed." Ichigo waves his hand out of modesty.

"Oh please if anyone is to be impressed, it should be us," Keigo exclaims which causes Mizuiro to blush red.

"Really Mizuiro, what place?" Ichigo asks looking now at Mizuiro and shifting in his seat to hear clearly.

"I just landed an internship at Kuchiki & Co," Mizuiro says while rubbing the back of his neck with a crooked smile. This makes Ichigo almost spill his drink,

"You mean _the Kuchiki & Co_, one of the biggest tech companies in the world. How in the hell did you pull that off?"

"It's a long and dreadful story, I'd much rather you tell me how you became a professor at Karakura?" Mizuiro asked, dodging Ichigo's question. Ichigo's eyes close briefly. His lips curving downward, as he leans back into the sofa. _Sometimes I wonder myself_ , but he doesn't say that sentence aloud. He instead says in a whimsical manner,

"I could say what really helped was my professors in college. I constantly met with them in their office hours and took their advice on most assignments. Doing all that and more helped in the long run for grad school and getting connections. After getting accepted into grad school, I made sure I worked my ass twice as hard in order to even qualify for an interview at Karakura." Keigo and Mizuiro both look at Ichigo in astonishment, which makes Ichigo feel the need to further say, "I mean there were other details that also played in, but I cite my professors as the main factor."

"That's crazy, just hearing you explain it makes me feel nervous," Keigo remarks, doubling over his stomach.

"At least you made it Ichigo and now the worry is over." Mizuiro reassures, but then after a while of thought, he adds, "Well, except for maybe a few student debts."

"Yeah a few student debts," Ichigo repeats in a dry tone. But Mizuiro wasn't completely wrong. Ichigo made ends meet in covering his debts and most of his scholarships took care of the rest, but worry didn't stop there. It was the act of being a professor. Deep down he knew it wasn't enough obtaining the job itself as opposed to living to its expectations. _I can't believe Mr. Ukitake gave someone like you his job_ ; he secretly memorized Rukia's words. He shakes his head; he needed to trust in himself and in Ukitake's decision.

"You definitely seem less impulsive, but then again that could be an act," Keigo says as he squints at Ichigo.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ichigo says with an edge. From there on, the three engaged in further socialization and reminiscing. Ultimately, saying their goodbyes and deciding one day they will meet for drinks. Ichigo ended up staying at the house till around 1:00 am, cleaning the party's leftovers. Isshin fiercely insisted Ichigo stay since it was way too late, but Ichigo said he had some work take care of the next morning. Ichigo promised he'll at least call on Tuesday to wish his sisters a proper happy birthday and kissed them on the forehead goodbye. He eventually woke up at 11:00 am and worked rigorously on finishing the test for his bio class. Then on Monday evening, everything was all set and done. He was setting all his materials in his black backpack but then his eyes had glossed over a colorful shopping bag with the label, Gikon. He almost forgot about the embarrassing little present. He looked at the neatly pile of tests in his bag and then back at the present. _This had better work_ , he thought as he finished packing everything in his bag.

* * *

"Psst Rukia," someone whispers in the back row. Rukia tries not to pay attention until she feels someone poke her in the shoulder. She turns her head slowly much to her own chagrin.

"What is it Renji?" She impatiently asks. They were in the middle of an important lecture; she couldn't afford being distracted, especially when Kurosaki was lecturing.

"I need to quickly see your notes, I think I missed something," Renji says while flipping through his notebook. Rukia gives him a pointed look,

"Do you honestly need to see my notes now? I'll let you take a picture later," she says as she attempts to follow what Ichigo is saying. But Renji wasn't satisfied,

"I just need to draw the magnetic fields, it'll take two seconds." Rukia looks at Renji and then back at Ichigo whose front was faced towards the board.

"You better," Rukia passes her notebook. After a short while, Renji passes the notebook just before Ichigo turns his back. "That was fast," Rukia says while keeping her eyes on the board.

"I told you I was good at drawing, who'd ya think designed my tattoos," Renji says with a cheeky grin. Rukia took a glance at Renji's tattoos. They looked like angular symbols appearing to be symmetrical around his widow's peak and neck. She didn't bother to notice them at first, but now up close in detail, they carried some sort dangerous but cool feeling. Before she had a chance to respond, she gets cut off,

"You two in the back row, I'm sure you're having an insightful discussion about tattoos. But we'd really appreciate if you didn't disrupt the whole class about it," Ichigo's strong voice stuns Renji and Rukia in their place. The whole class turns toward them in mixture of laughter and annoyance.

"We're sorry professor," Renji bows his head while appearing to be slightly red. Rukia looks Ichigo directly in the eye. It was much like the first day she met him, the air electric. She says with the most sarcastic voice she can muster,

"It won't happen again. If you find that it does, I'm sure we'll feel most unfortunate." It was an unpredictable move; however, Rukia just couldn't keep her mouth shut. The whole class watches, Ichigo taking a few steps forward stopping at the edge of the 1st row. The white chalk in his hands almost turns into dust under his tanned clenched fist. He sets his gaze only on Rukia, smirking in his own prized fashion,

"I guess we shall see to that." Rukia doesn't say anything else, instead of letting the silence have its own moment. _Would it kill to be a little nicer, asshole,_ Rukia thinks as she goes back to taking her notes. The lecture rages on for 30 minutes more until Ichigo finally wraps the lesson,

"Good work today. If anything new pops up, I'll keep you posted on the syllabus. See you all on Thursday." Everyone retreats to the door, including Renji and Rukia who are the first ones out. Once they're outside, they immediately Rukia goes off,

"How can he just say that? We weren't even being that loud and the people below us were also talking as well." Renji sighs beside her and responds apologetically,

"He's the big man in charge; he can technically kick us out if he wanted to. 'Sides, it was my fault Rukia, I should have just kept my stupid mouth shut." Rukia still keeps her right foot down and refutes calmly,

"I understand Renji, but there's a more civil way of addressing the situation. He didn't have to call on your tattoos." Renji couldn't help, but agree with her. Rukia pushes her hair aside from her face, "It's like he has some crazy vendetta towards me." This makes Renji snort in laughter. It was loud enough to make some people in hallway turn their heads towards the two. Rukia scowls, "It's not funny."

"It is a bit," Renji wipes a tear out of his eye. Rukia walks ahead toward the other direction of the café and says,

"Anyway, I'm going to the library to study for my bio test." Renji finally stops his laughter and asks,

"What, no café?" Rukia shakes her head,

"Not today, I rented a small study room." Renji hunches his posture, putting his hands in the pocket of his jeans, "No need to look so glum, I personally find it better to study on my own." Rukia gives an honest smile.

"I'm not glum, it'll just be weird without you," Renji protests with a flustered face. Rukia tilts her head in confusion, "Never mind, do what you need to do. Good luck." Rukia nods,

"Thank you, Renji." Then from there, they both go their separate paths. As Rukia walks past the cafe, she hears a quiet and familiar voice by her ear,

" _I was looking forward to seeing you there, pity_." Rukia turns around, but it was too late the presumably male figure had already left. She wonders if it was that same man who owned the café, who else would be weird enough to say such a phrase? _Scratch that, there were many weird men in this college_. Rukia checks the watch on her wrist for the time. It wasn't her old watch, but a temporary replacement. Rangiku insisted she wear it when she first laid her eyes on Rukia's outfit. The watch reads 11:43 am, and so Rukia hurries to the library for her study spot.

* * *

One of the few last ones to finish, Rukia turns in her test. Ichigo looks up at her and says something quietly,

"I need to talk to you after class." Rukia blinks at Ichigo in sheer disbelief, "It's something important…" She nods, playing along with the mood and returns back to her seat. Maybe deciding to hear whatever crazy thing he has to say was a bad idea. She observes him looking over the exams one by one briefly. At times he was hard to get read on, but she could tell that his inexperienced charm underlined the way he worked. She was used to Ukitake's ease and practiced motion. Obviously, there were no doubts which of two professors were better, but she expected Ukitake to pick a better choice. Why him? The question still remained in the back of her head. Rukia sees the last person turn in the test. She grabs her backpack in one swift motion and walks down to Ichigo's desk.

"Yes?" She asks with little to no emotion. Ichigo puts the tests aside and speaks in a robust tone,

"This may sound like I'm torturing the single bane of your existence, but I don't care. I'm only trying to help you as an instructor." Rukia has no clue where this conversation was going, but it didn't sound too well, "If you want to get a fair shot at winning, then you need to arrange more meetings with me in my office." A fair shot of winning? Rukia laughs humorlessly,

"Now why would I want to do that?" Ichigo almost laughs responding,

"Here's the real the question, why wouldn't you want to do it." He finishes putting all of the exams in a file. Rukia raises an eyebrow and narrows her eyes,

"This is plain ridiculous; I don't understand why it's this much of a concern with you," Ichigo smiles all too well,

"I'm sorry didn't Ukitake tell you that meeting with the professor was an important aspect of getting connections," Rukia remains silent, Ichigo shrugs his shoulders on purpose, "Because he told me all the time. I'm just warning you beforehand because based on what I know about you so far, you'll probably realize it after it's too late." Ichigo walks over to Rukia's side of the desk, arms crossed, "I want to help you Rukia." Rukia slightly perplexed, questions,

"Why do you think I need so much help?" Ichigo looks at her for what seems to be the longest time. The midday sunshine was covering half of her face, leaving intricate shadows to cover the rest. He observes her features, following the violet hue of her immense eyes, to the slope of her dainty nose to the overall white marble of her skin. _She's so delicate_ , Ichigo thinks, but at the same, she wasn't.

"Because you're _different_ ," Ichigo grabs his backpack and pulls out the present he bought. Rukia doesn't realize what it is until she sees the Chappy print. She turns into another color. "You like it?"

"You have a chappy timer?" Rukia ignores his question, attempting to seem uninterested. Ichigo smirks as soon as he sees her reaction,

"I've been saving it for somebody but no one seems to care enough to take it off my hands," _How did that asshole get the limited edition one, even she couldn't find it anywhere_. "I think someone said it is limited edition too." _No Rukia, don't do it, don't give in…_

"I think I may know someone," Rukia says reaching for it from his hands like a cat, but Ichigo raises the timer up to his head. He loved that he had about a foot of height advantage towards her.

"Slow down kid, not until you say you need my help." Rukia jaw almost drops and turns her head the other way up high.

"No thanks, I'm well off on my own," Rukia says before deciding to leave to the door. It was better to keep one's pride.

"I graded last Thursday's exam..." Rukia startles at his words and turns around. Her hands and heart were becoming clammy as the seconds passed by.

"And what I failed?" She questions, now feeling hot blood suddenly run through her cheeks. Ichigo looks down for a minute, putting the timer on the desk.

"Depends on how you interpret failure, but no I would say you didn't fail," Ichigo says mysteriously, but the sound of his tone was all but good news.

"Then what did I get?" Rukia clenches her bag tighter around her shoulders.

"Maybe, you should take a seat," Ichigo gestures her to sit down on a nearby chair. Rukia's features scrunches up in irritation and repeats,

"I don't want to sit down, just tell me what I-

"C," Ichigo says bluntly. Rukia's eyes widen, as she absorbs the air around her. _Impossible, this had to be a huge mistake_. _He had to have made a huge mistake_.

"I can't believe this," Rukia says to herself quietly. Ichigo sighs, knowing this would happen.

"I didn't think it'd fit your standard-"

"You're teasing right?" She demands, almost reaching out to pull him by his collar, "This has to be one your usual jokes." Ichigo clears his throat and says formally,

"Anyway, you should schedule an appointment with me early, if you're considering your peers' scores as well." He zips up his bag and swings it around his shoulders. _I've done my part of the bargain, Ukitake._

"I don't want to," Rukia says with clear precision. Ichigo flicks his attention back at her, giving a quick once-over,

"Don't be ridiculous, _you clearly need the help_." Even though her tone had clearly said otherwise, she looked distressed in a matter of seconds. Rukia grits her teeth and spits out coldly,

"If I needed help, I wouldn't want to go an amateur like you." Ichigo laughs at her pathetic response. Enchanted, that he was getting used to her same cold front dialogue. His laughter only seems to make Rukia's heart beat faster. It was unkind yet striking at the same time.

"And I guess the only person you can go to is yourself," Ichigo retorts with a possibly colder, impulsive tone. Rukia's eyes fall to the ground. His words were true, she didn't find fault in believing in them. He was only like the rest, who couldn't understand. The world was a cruel place and the only shelter one can really find is within one's self. _Isn't that right Hisana_? The sour image of her sister gravitated inside Rukia's mind. "Alright then, have it your way." Ichigo takes off, seeing as his business was done and it was useless to waste time with someone who didn't listen. Rukia hears a notification from her phone. _Probably Gin_. She feels exasperated enough to even bother checking her phone. Another noise goes off, this time it was louder. She looks to her side to find the Chappy timer Ichigo left. She turns off the timer and thinks, _it's not like he actually cared about it._ It was an only stupid ploy. Rukia picks the timer up, her fingers curling around Chappy's bunny ears _. To hell with it_ , she chucks it across the room and it lands on the foot of the door. That only seemed to make Rukia's mood worse. _What am I doing_? This was not like her at all. She immediately walks over to scoop up the little timer. The paint was scratched by the sides, but it overall functioned regularly. Rukia sighs and decides to put the timer in her bag for safe keeping until she found a proper way to get rid of it. She needed to calm down and get herself together. As she expected, more trials were to come to her path.

* * *

 **P.S. Are any of my fellow American readers super excited for the eclipse on Monday?**


End file.
